Sunrise
by blackshade9
Summary: The story so often ends at the climax, but life goes on, and emotional and physical wounds must heal. The four that had played their part in protecting their city now have to look toward the next sunrise, and find the strength to walk into it. Sequel to Treefall.
1. Chapter 1 - The Sun, Reversed

"SATEN LET ME GO!"

"Nope."

Those two sentences succinctly summarized the better part of the last hour as Saten, wearing rubber gloves to protect herself, bodily kept pushing Mikoto back into her bed. Mikoto, the powerful and unstoppable Railgun, was currently being repeatedly defeated and returned to her bed by Saten, with no powers beyond upper body strength and rubber gloves.

Mikoto had the physical strength of what felt like a hamster at the moment, her physical therapy progressing, but still moving with limbs that barely functioned.

"She isn't seeing visitors yet, and there's… something going on outside." Saten looked over her shoulder at the door where she heard what sounded like the occasional clapping of heavy boots running or walking by the door.

Saten, without looking, pushed Mikoto on the chest again as she tried to take advantage of Saten looking away to sneak out of bed. A loud growl emanated from the bed.

"I'll go see what's going on outside, and when we can see Kuroko. I promise to come back with everything if you just stay in bed, OK?" Saten asked, staring Mikoto down, the level 5 huffing as she sat back down in her bed, crossing her arms and pouting like a child.

"Fine." She mumbled quietly. Saten let out a sigh of relief, moving to the door and pausing to see if Mikoto made any move to follow. When she was relatively confident she'd stay put, Saten closed the door behind her.

Kuroko had woken up yesterday, and it had been round-the-clock doctors, nurses, and other medical staff in and out of her room since then. No one beyond the hospital staff had seen her yet, and her friends had no idea what her condition was. Mikoto, unsurprisingly, had been very adamant about seeing Kuroko immediately, insisting that she needed to help her with her pain. It wasn't lost on Uiharu and Saten, who recently learned how Kuroko focused her powers through her arms, that Kuroko's arms were likely in extreme pain, even after all these months of rest and care. It was understandable that Mikoto wanted to help, but Saten knew the hospital staff knew what they were doing, and Mikoto was acting purely on emotion.

Saten sighed a little as she paused outside the door, looking around with surprise as two Anti-Skill troopers jogged past her. All around she saw Anti-Skill troops, all of them heavily armed. None of them seemed to be reacting in any way that would imply any violence going on, but it was still… disconcerting.

Deciding it was time to snoop, Saten casually walked around, listening in to bits and pieces of conversations as the soldiers discussed things while using the guise of finding Uiharu to deflect suspicion.

"-Entrance's 2 through 7 are covered with a contingent-"

"-Condition of Corporal Akih-

"-races left at the site-"

Saten furrowed her brow as she listened to the serious voices, superiors giving orders to their troops who moved through the hospital, their faces looking quite severe, security robots zooming by her to assist Anti-Skill. It was somewhat concerning, to say the least. In the end, her lie turned to truth as she spotted Uiharu sitting on a chair with her laptop across her legs, however her eyes were not currently on it. Instead she was on her cell phone, talking to someone. Saten approached her, opening her mouth to greet, but pausing as her eavesdropping temptation conquered her.

"Mhm. Mhm! Yes! How does this Saturday work…" She trailed off as she saw Saten approaching, her attention jerking back to the phone.

"Still here! I'll call you back, OK?" She said, pausing for only a second before hastily ending the call and pocketing her phone.

"Sorry about that, how are you doing Saten-san?" Uiharu gave her friend a smile, which was returned with a suspicious eyebrow.

"Who was that, huh?" Saten leaned forward with a somewhat lecherous smile. "Got a hot date?" She asked, though her smile lessened as a voice in the back of her head reminded her what Uiharu had almost been victim to nearly a year ago. Uiharu simply blushed and seemed, mercifully, unperturbed.

"N-no, nothing like that! How about you? How have you been holding up?" She asked, Saten having her turn in being evasive. "Just fine, you know me, tough as nails." She grinned, putting her hand on her hip before watching an Anti-Skill trooper pass them by.

"What is with Anti-Skill?" She asked, to which Uiharu, thankfully, had an answer.

"Someone attacked one of the guards here and badly wounded them. They say a young man showed up and chased the intruder, but pulled back and let them escape so the guard wouldn't die." Uiharu explained, some windows on her laptop monitor implying she'd not acquired all of that entirely through legitimate means.

"Did you get a picture of the guy?" Saten asked, leaning over and peeking at the laptop.

"Not of the intruder, but I did get a picture of the one who ran him off. He's that one there, in the sweater-vest. I think that's a uniform from Okajima High School." She pointed at the screen where a dark haired young man in a school uniform that consisted of gray-tan slacks and a shirt with a sweater vest and tie stood with his fists on his hips before he leaped down and bodily lifted the injured guard, running him into the building.

"Who is that?" Saten mumbled with curiosity, her eyebrows raised at yet another mystery.

* * *

Mikoto was stew in her own impotent rage in her bed. She was tempted to just go see Kuroko and ignore Saten, but… to be honest, she wasn't sure she'd be able to walk there without help. So she settled with balling her fists up and squeezing down on her blanket angrily.

Her thoughts did not remain undisturbed for long as she felt a calming influence occasionally sneak in to her head. She tried to relax, feeling the Network prodding at her gently, her little sisters attempting to soothe her rage with thousands of murmuring voices. It worked, mostly, and she tried to reply in apology to them, but couldn't. It was still so difficult to say anything across the Misaka Network. She didn't know how the Sisters did so with such ease. Receiving or sending signals was profoundly difficult for her.

A knock at her door brought her from her thoughts, the door sliding open to show a well-dressed older man with a full white beard and one eye, the other eye a solid black metal sphere situated in the socket. It was a little unnerving, and she wondered whether it was cybernetic or decorative. The man himself was likely in his late 40's or early 50's, and towered at easily above six foot. He filled the suit he wore, his bulk implying significant muscle.

"Pardon the intrusion, Misaka-ojou-sama." The man said with a formal and polite deep voice, entering and closing the door behind him.

"I am the duly appointed representative here on behalf of Alesteir Crowley-sama." The man explained, circling around Mikoto's bed to stand several feet from the foot of it. Mikoto tensed visibly at this. She had, by all realistic interpretations, waged war against the Board, and by proxy, the Superintendent. She doubted the Superintendent was unaware of Level 6 Shift. She was half expecting to be quietly disposed of any day now.

"Crowley-sama would like to extend his thanks for the service you have done for the city in protecting it from certain disaster. He expresses that he sympathizes with the physical and emotional suffering you have endured, and Academy City will continue to support you and your recovery." The man said formally, his one hand behind his back while the other had a jacket draped across it in front of his chest.

Mikoto blinked, not much expecting this message. She shifted a little uncomfortably, her eyes darting for a moment.

"U-um, my thanks to the Superintendent." She said politely, trying to the severe-looking man a weak smile.

"I shall pass them along. There is more, however." He stated, Mikoto's head twitching up at him in attention.

"He wishes I pass along the following message. He is, to put it mildly, unhappy with your decision to destroy Orihime II, and Tree Diagram, and the resulting damage that came from the following events that crippled the upper levels of Endymion. He applauds your creativity in pursuing your goals, but advises against such emotional decisions in the future, lest they become a bad habit, and he be forced to take disciplinary action he does not wish to impose upon you. The Superintendent cares deeply for all the students under his care, and would hate to see such habits prove detrimental to you or others." He said with a level tone, his single eyed gaze boring into her, Mikoto feeling her heart pound at the not-so-subtle implications.

"I wish you a pleasant day, ojou-sama." The man said, bowing in respect before turning in departing, Mikoto only giving a weak, half-hearted bow from her bed as he departed without another word, more than a little shaken up.

Somehow, such a gentle warning terrified her more than any overt action she had been expecting.

"...Damn it…"

* * *

Saten and Uiharu were at a loss on who this figure might be. Uiharu had said that she was going to try some facial recognition, but it would take time. She had wandered over to speak to some fellow Judgement officers, including her superior Konori who had volunteered as additional security after hearing of the attack.

Saten stood by herself, her eyes wandering the hospital hall she was in. Her gaze stopped as they spotted a man getting taken to a room, blood leaking from a rag he was holding up to a wound at his head. Saten blinked once, then twice, and then sprinted down the hall for the bathroom as images began to flash through her head. She tore into the bathroom stall, throwing it open and practically throwing her head over it, just barely in time as her stomach evicted its contents.

For what felt like forever, she vomited, hugging her own belly at the miserable sensation it brought on, reduced to dry retching before she managed to get it under control, taking deep breaths.

"Fuck…" She hissed in a hoarse voice, flushing the toilet to get the contents out of her face. Images of the night of Treefall danced across her mind, of those two men. In the moment, she wanted to protect Uiharu, and that took precedence over everything else. She had swung her bat to defend, and focused on keeping Uiharu safe. It had helped her stay focused.

But she no longer had that luxury. Now… now she knew what she'd done. She had learned that both of those men had died from head trauma. How could they have not? She could recall vividly that night what she'd done. She was angry, disgusted, infuriated at what they had tried to do to Uiharu, had tried to violate her body. She had slammed that bat down with so much force with every swing her arms had been shaking for days afterward.

But now… now all she had was the memory of bludgeoning two human beings, no matter how despicable, to death. Emotion faded and left only reality, and she hated it.

She forced herself off of the floor, moving to the sink and trying to wash the dreadful taste out of her mouth. She cleaned herself up, determined to not let anyone see her like this. She quietly left the bathroom, stopping in her tracks as she spotted the man they called "Heaven Canceller". She had briefly met with him after the incident, after Treefall, to be evaluated for trauma, and he'd insisted on therapy with a trained professional… therapy that she'd been skipping. She saw him moving toward her direction, and in a panic, leaped into the first door she saw, closing the door behind her.

She didn't want to be confronted right now, she just… couldn't take it. She looked into the room she had jumped in, half hoping for a storage closet but instead found herself in a patient's room. At first she thought it empty, but the curtain that separated two of the beds showed a shadow of a person sitting up as it took note of her presence.

"...Yes?" Came a sharp, cold voice. Saten jumped a little, fidgeting at the intensity behind it.

"I'm… I'm s-sorry! Please, just let me hide here for a little, I won't be a bother." She said in a stage whisper.

"Tch.." The shadow tutted at her, remaining quiet for a moment. "And why, exactly, are you hiding?" He asked, lying back down, one leg coming up to rest against a propped up knee.

"O-oh, it's… it's nothing big, j-just… uh…" Saten scrambled for a lie, and a sound of impatience emanated from the shadow.

"I'm bored. Talk or leave, choose one." He said in a mildly cruel, uncaring voice. Saten flinched at the tone, biting her lip for a moment.

"...I killed two people protecting a friend." She said softly. She paused, expecting some kind of outburst of disgust or horror, but she only received waiting silence.

"...I… I don't know what to feel or think or do. I just… I don't know. I feel disgusting and vile, but I don't think I'd do anything any different. And that just makes me feel more disgusting and vile." She whispered, biting back tears. She hugged her legs to her chest as she slid down to the ground. "I just… don't know what to do… I feel like everyone will hate me, even if that makes no sense." She said quietly.

There was a pause before the voice finally replied.

"Stop trying to figure out what OTHERS want you to feel or do or think. Fuck em. Figure out what YOU want to do or feel or think. In the end, the only person you will always have to live with is yourself. Get used to it." The voice said with some harsh criticism. Saten sat there in silence in response, and the shadow seemed content with the conversation he'd been given and said nothing else.

FInally she stood up, giving a bow. "Thank you." She said softly, quietly departing.

The shadow laid on his bed after she departed, reaching a hand up to brush a white lock of hair out of his face.

"Tch…"

* * *

Saten shook her dark thoughts from her head as she returned to Mikoto's room, relieved to see that she hadn't decided to crawl out in protest of Saten's wishes.

"Sorry it took me so long, but I figured out some stuff. Someone tried to-" She began to explain, but evidently, stewing in her anger had only worsened it further, Mikoto rounding on Saten in her bed and angrily replying.

"I don't CARE! I WANT TO SEE KURO-" She began to yell before something seemed to snap inside a very stressed out Saten, her jaw clenching as she slammed her foot down on the floor.

"ENOUGH!" Saten shouted over Mikoto who flinched back in shock and alarm, her eyes going wide as her mouth hung open wordlessly.

"I am your FRIEND, Misaka, not your damn verbal punching bag! You want to see Kuroko, we all do, and she's getting the help she needs! You want to help, you think you can help her like you always have, but you're just being selfish and childish! It's not about you! It's about Kuroko!" She panted as she finished her shouting, Mikoto sitting wordlessly in her bed, looking like the very definition of shocked and ashamed. Saten crossed the room and firmly gave her a hug, pulling Mikoto's head into her shoulder.

"Misaka-san… We aren't blind. We know you're in pain, both physically and in your heart. We can't imagine what you've gone through. Please… let us be there. Stop trying to push us away." She said softly, holding her firmly against her, one of Saten's hand running down Mikoto's now-long-as-Saten's hair in a soothing gesture, and she felt Mikoto bodily relax and press her face into Saten's shoulder, tears wetting it her top.

Saten held on to Misaka quietly for quite some time before Misaka finally gave way to her own physical and mental exhaustion and fell asleep, Saten laying her down softly, finding her own seat and waiting for the doctors to come tell them when they could see Kuroko again.

"Let us be there…" She echoed her previous words to herself, letting out a soft, self-loathing laugh. "Who are you to talk, Ruiko…"

* * *

Mercifully, Saten dozed off herself for a bit before Uiharu knocked and she was startled out of her sleep in the chair. Her gaze turned to Uiharu who smiled at her as she quietly closed the door so as not to wake Mikoto, who was still soundly asleep. The pair conversed quietly for a time before Mikoto blinked herself awake, sitting up in her bed and rubbing sleep out of her eyes. The pair softly engaged her in idle conversation, both focused on mostly trying to keep her from getting wound up again. They didn't have to do it long before a knock at the door announced the presence of the doctor.

The frog-faced man opened the door, closing it behind him, nodding to the girls. After exchanging the polite level of pleasantries back and forth, the doctor got to the point of why he was there.

"I know all three of you have been wanting to see Shirai-san. She is finally ready to take, very limited and short, visitors. However, I must emphasize to you all… Ms. Shirai is in very fragile condition. I suggest you prepare yourself for that. She is still very weak, but has requested to see you all. She has stated she wants to know you three are all safe with her own eyes. If you have the strength, you can visit her now."

Mikoto nearly leaped from her bed, and thankfully Saten was present to grab on to her and help ease her off of the bed before she face-planted in her own impatient rush. The doctor seemed unsurprised, and ever prepared, momentarily opened the door and grabbed a hand-gripped walking crutch for her.

After some effort and coordination with her two friends, Mikoto was limping down the hall, flanked by Uiharu and Saten, helping her struggle down the hall, leaning heavily into the cane, her weakness and shaking from weakness frustrating her, but determined to see the person who'd been in her thoughts since she woke up.

As they arrived at the room, they distinctly saw an Anti-Skill presence in the area, with two guards at the door, all of them seeming very alert and cautious. Uncaring for anything else, Mikoto just pushed forward.

As the trio entered the room, they half-expected her to still be hooked up to machines, but surprisingly, she wasn't even in her bed. She was sitting in a rather comfortable looking wheelchair that was facing out toward the window that she was gazing out of, her hair longer than it was before and draped down her back, free of her usual ribbons.

Uiharu and Saten did their best to help Mikoto, who was practically trying to run to Saten, but at best succeeded in a slow hobble. Kuroko turned to look at Mikoto as she got near, Mikoto beginning to greet her in relief.

"Kuroko, I was so-" She cut herself short. She had mentally prepared herself quite a bit. She knew that, after what Kuroko had done to save the city from her mistake, her arms were likely to be beyond what she'd ever seen. Mangled or broken, something she could help address. In her gut, she felt a weight beyond measure sink down, made only worse as Kuroko smiled up at Mikoto tiredly.

"It's good to see you, Onee-sama. I missed you." The words, full of genuine affection and free of any form of blame, it only made Mikoto feel worse, as she fell out of her friend's grips and collapsed onto the ground in front of Kuroko, falling forward to bury her face into Kuroko's legs which rapidly became soaked with tears that were becoming all-too-common.

"I'm sorry… I'm so sorry… I'm sorry…" She repeated it over and over without stop, her friends behind her too speechless to do anything. Kuroko leaned forward and rested her head against the back of her beloved's neck, nuzzling her lightly, shushing her quietly.

All Kuroko could think at that moment was how much she wished she could embrace the girl in her lap crying, wished she could hold her tight…

...With arms, that she no longer had.


	2. Chapter 2 - The Star, Reversed

Kuroko leaned back a bit into the pillows and bed that had been propped up to allow her to recline a bit and read the papers in her lap at the same time. Her eyes scanned over the document in her lap, finishing the last few sentences.

"Next page, please." Kuroko said for what felt like the thousandth time today. Uiharu, who was seated in a chair next to her quietly reading herself, reached over quickly and turned the page for Kuroko. Just another inconvenience that she was going to need to get used to. She bristled at the frustration of not even being able to turn pages, or holding a cup of water to drink it, or any other thousand mundane things that now felt like mountainous challenges.

"Thanks." Kuroko mumbled softly as she continued reading. She had requested either Uiharu or Saten bring her various documents concerning the events she'd missed out on since she had lost consciousness, which turned out to be quite a lot, and the details regarding the Level 6 Shift project. The documents in regards to that particular experiment was something the girls had collectively decided to keep their mouth shut about possessing.

The damage to the city had been extensive, billions upon billions flowing from the city's bank accounts into repairing and retrofitting the various buildings and public and private property that had been bombarded by the debris from Endymion. Kuroko had noted to her friends that referring to the event as Treefall, as she had heard it repeatedly called, was somewhat inaccurate, since it was the Space Elevator, not the satellite holding Tree Diagram, that had actually fallen down onto the city, but she was many months too late to voice a relevant opinion on that.

Academy City had responded in several ways, beyond just their massive cover-up campaign that Kuroko had found grating and irritating. It was in in defiance of the justice she felt was owed to the city, while mutually feeling beyond relieved that the city had decided to cover up Mikoto's involvement and responsibility, freeing her from the united hatred the city might have thrown at her and instead replacing it with unending support.

It was a lie. A lie that Kuroko found comforting, and grateful for, because it meant that she wouldn't lose her beloved. Thoughts drifted through her mind, as she recalled the last memory she had before she had crippled herself teleporting the kinetic energy from the momentum of the massive debris that would have destroyed the city right back onto the giant hunk of metal in reverse orientation. She didn't know she could do that- evidently not without consequences.

But the memory that eclipsed that was her farewell to Mikoto. She had finally confessed in a way that wasn't shielded by her humorous antics, or her euphoric emotional admiration for Mikoto. She had just been honest. She… still hadn't brought it up to Mikoto. And Mikoto hadn't said anything either.

A slight sigh escaped her lips as her thoughts returned to what she had learned since waking up. All the various festivals that Academy City organized, often to the admiration of the world, had been postponed until such a time as repairs could be made, and the safety of the citizenry could be assured. Calls for such security was likely why Kuroko hadn't even heard from her parents- outside communication was extremely restricted, and Mikoto's mother had only been able to come visit because of circumstances getting her into the city before the lockdown had come into effect.

The city was cautious and on high alert, and whispers of the end of the city echoed throughout the months, she was told. And yet, the Board treated it like some unfortunate road bump rather than a cataclysmic disaster. The funding for the various festivals, which was budgeted annually, had been redirected toward the city's repair with great and over dramatic apologies to the citizens that the festivals had to be postponed because of the damage. No use letting set aside funding go to waste, apparently.

Kuroko could feel Uiharu's eyes occasionally falling on her with that concerned thoughtful look she seemed to always possess. Kuroko's eyes moved to meet Uiharu, giving her a questioning look at the stare that had fallen off of the book in the flower girl's lap and onto the bed-ridden friend of hers.

"Something on your mind, Uiharu?" Kuroko asked curiously. To which Uiharu jumped visibly out of a train of thought.

"O-oh, sorry, I was just… thinking." She explained, trying to wave off the question, but Kuroko didn't let go.

"Uiharu, come on." Kuroko gave her a bit of incredulous look at the notion that Uiharu thought she could get rid of the question that easily. Uiharu shifted around in her seat uncomfortably.

"U-um… I was just wondering if, with your current, uh, condition and all… and what you explained to us about your powers… what does that mean for you?" Uiharu asked, looking up from the floor she had suddenly found so interesting and back to Kuroko, who was just sitting staring into her own lap looking more than a little sad.

"Well… my powers were based upon my arms. It's how I focused them. It's been… three months, I believe, since I woke up. I've tried other ways of using my powers, but… I've had no success. If I had to theorize what that meant, I guess I'd say that…" She trailed off again, every sentence sounding like it was painful for her to say. She let out a drawn out, mournful sigh.

"I'm pretty sure my powers are gone forever." She whispered quietly, her head hanging down a bit more. Uiharu stared at her silently with a bit of a horrified expression, trying to find words to say to comfort her friend, but her mind finding nothing before she simply stood up and hugged Kuroko, the sound of Uiharu's own book hitting the floor with a thump as she held her.

Kuroko leaned into the hug, taking a deep, calming breath. Kuroko hadn't burst into tears once since she woke up- not that anyone had seen. She was trying so hard to keep her composure around everyone, show that she could take this change in her life without a worry. But…

She knew she was lying to herself and everyone else. Internally, she was devastated. She had gone from one of the rarest Esper's in all of Academy City, a Level 4 Teleporter, down to someone without any powers at all. A member of Judgement, one of the most successful, reduced to an armless cripple.

Her thoughts betrayed her, and she struggled to maintain her composure as she leaned into Uiharu, forcing herself to remain passive. She wasn't sure her pride could take yet another hit right now.

"It's… it's gonna be OK, Shirai-san." Uiharu said, trying her best to push the uncertainty out of her voice. "We're here for you. Misaka-san especially." She said with far more confidence. Kuroko smiled a little and nuzzled against Uiharu for a moment before they broke apart.

"Thank you, Uiharu." Kuroko said with a soft sigh, smiling at her weakly. She sat up a little straighter and put on a somewhat familiar lecherous look on her face.

"I mean, how can it not? Not only do I have Onee-sama, but now she has little sisters that look JUST LIKE HER!" Kuroko's grin widened as she made a somewhat overdramatic swooning gesture at the notion of so many Misaka's to stare at and ogle. Uiharu giggled despite herself, covering her mouth, happy to see Kuroko had at least not lost everything positive in her mind- well, positive may not be the MOST accurate of ways of viewing her lecherous behavior.

"They don't hold even close to a candle as their big sister, but…" She grinned and stared off into the distance. Kuroko had, initially, been floored for hours after she'd been informed about the clones and their sheer numbers, and it was only after several of Mikoto's numerous visits, in which Mikoto did her best to both explain and not explain the program to the point that it had begun to slightly annoy her three friends with her evasiveness did they finally get a firm, horrified grasp of what had been going on in the city they called their home. 7

And quite frankly, while none of them had voiced it, but all quietly understood, was that there wasn't a single one of them who had come to terms with it.

"Onee-sama has been acting very differently lately… ever since she first visited." Kuroko said softly, her mind returning to the day that Mikoto had collapsed against her in inconsolable tears. Uiharu and Saten were too stunned and, from how Kuroko recalled their expressions, horrified to do anything besides stand there and not say a word.

Kuroko didn't blame them. How do you respond to the idea that one of your friends is now a cripple? But Mikoto… she had gone from inconsolable grief to much more like she was previously before all of this had occurred. And despite all her own recovery, kept finding time to visit Kuroko almost every day- to the point that the doctors started limiting Mikoto's ability to visit so she would keep up on her own recovery. The visits both elated Kuroko, and concerned her greatly at their frequency.

Kuroko sighed a bit, looking to Uiharu as she tried not to get lost in thoughts.

"Mhm. She's been working extra hard in her physical therapy, and Saten has been helping her out. Last I heard, Misaka-san is getting discharged today. Saten is with her now, probably helping her out with getting released. I bet Misaka-san has been stressed from being cooped up for so long." Uiharu said with a cheerful smile.

Kuroko stared at her for a couple seconds before glancing away and staring off into space as she mulled over her friends words. Unbeknownst to her, her expression shifted slowly into one of deep thought and intense longing, prompting her friend to tilt her head at her bedridden companion, but deciding to simply keep her smile and let Kuroko have her thoughts free from interruption for now.

* * *

Saten sat outside in the hall directly across from Mikoto's room, waiting ever so patiently. The doctor had gone in to explain to her a variety of things and her final instructions before being discharged out of the hospital. Saten was excited for oh-so-many reasons. Chief among them was just the excitement of her friend finally being released after over a year of being stuck in this place.

The door to the hospital room was opened by the doctor, who stood aside to let Mikoto out, leaning on the forearm crutch that she was still utilizing for support, but could now thankfully rely on without the aid of others. Mikoto gave Saten a smile as she limped out of the room, meeting Saten half way as she got up off the bench and hugging her with one arm.

"Thanks for standing by me, Saten-san. I know I've been just an absolute bitch." She said softly, hugging her as tight as she could, which wasn't half as tight as Saten's grip was.

"Language, Misaka-san." Heaven Cancellers said as he walked past them, pausing to hand Mikoto her medical documents before giving her a polite nod and departing. Saten giggled as Mikoto blushed, that foul-mouthed tomboy peeking out blatantly in public.

"I'm ready to go home…" Mikoto sighed out, Saten letting her go and patting her shoulder.

"Well, lucky for you, I know just where to take you! The city prepared a little something since your dorm is… you know." Saten said, shrugging a bit and smiling. Mikoto only raised her eyebrow at her in confusion. Saten looked momentarily surprised.

"Your dorms. For Tokiwadai. They got smashed with a bunch of debris, so they had to demolish and rebuild it." Saten explained, still a bit surprised that Mikoto hadn't been told this yet. It HAD been rather busy as of late.

"But… then… where are we going to stay?" Mikoto looked just exasperated. At this point, it was just par for the course for her luck, or lack thereof. Saten however, just grinned brightly and tugged on her hand excitedly, Mikoto gasping as she did her best to keep up. Thankfully, she had grown rather practiced with the crutch, and her limbs didn't feel like limp noodles anymore. She was really hoping that she wouldn't need it soon.

"Come on, I'll show you. We'll get you all settled in, and we can get ready for when Shirai is released too." Saten beamed as she pulled her friend along. Saten, with her eyes forward, didn't get the opportunity to see the soft smile spread across Mikoto's face at the mention of Kuroko.

"Yeah… Let's do that."

* * *

The silence had stretched on for a bit, Uiharu just reading her book as Kuroko got lost in her thoughts, but eventually she came back to earth and the two had begun to converse for the past hour or so without worries. It was nice to just talk like friends again, even though Uiharu felt like she'd not seen Kuroko much longer than Kuroko felt she'd last seen Uiharu.

Uiharu sat up a bit straighter as a vibrating sound emanated from her pocket, reaching down and pulling out a phone not unlike the one Kuroko used, with a extendable holographic display. "Oh, excuse me, I need to take this." She stood and gave a polite bow like the ever so polite person that she was before wandering over to one corner of the room and putting the phone to her ear, speaking quietly.

But Kuroko had good ears, and she was just too curious. She leaned slightly forward as she tried to catch on to the conversation, though only caught Uiharu's side of the conversation.

"Mhm. Yeah, I've been feeling better. I've been doing everything you've said, it's really helped." Uiharu said in a soft, friendly, even familiar tone. Kuroko leaned in deeper, her curiosity overwhelming her with who Uiharu might be talking to.

"I'll give you a call later today, sure. Goodbye." Uiharu hung up the phone with a smile, pocketing it and walking back over to Kuroko, who had jerked back and tried to pretend like she hadn't been listening in.

"Who was that?" Kuroko asked curiously, looking over at Uiharu who waved off the question with a laugh.

"Oh, no one really." She said evasively, prompting yet another raised eyebrow from Kuroko.

"Didn't sound like nobody. You seemed awful familiar." She said, leaning toward her, Uiharu puffing her cheeks and chest at Kuroko a bit in exasperation.

"It's rude to eavesdrop Shirai-san!" She scolded, huffing indignantly. Kuroko raised both stumps up, as if she was going to try to use her non-existent hands in a faux defensive way, but reality asserted itself pretty quickly, a flash of pain spreading across Kuroko's face before she simply shrugged

"Alright, alright, I apologize." She said, sighing a little, her curiosity thwarted. Uiharu crossed her arms against her chest a bit, trying her best to be upset, but it was very challenging with how frail Kuroko was. Though she'd tried very hard never to imply such to Kuroko… she knew her friends pride wasn't doing so hot these days.

The momentary silence was broken by a knock at the door, followed by Heaven Canceller letting himself in.

"Pardon the intrusion, but I had some medically related topics to discuss with you, Shirai-san." He said, before glancing to Uiharu pointedly, who in turn looked to Kuroko with a bit of a worried expression. Kuroko couldn't help but be drawn in by the puppy dog eyes that Uiharu pulled off with no effort.

"It's OK if she stays for it." Kuroko said, the doctor nodding as he moved to the opposite side of the bed to speak to Kuroko. Uiharu got very silent, but sat up and listened with the utmost attentiveness, her eyes glued on the doctor.

"I have some good news, and some difficult news. Your muscles have not atrophied as much as they might have, as we managed to give you extensive electric muscle treatment during your coma to maintain them from deteriorating too much. While you will have a road to recovery, you should be able to regain full use of your muscles in a relatively short time frame so long as you maintain to your exercises and treatments." He explained, Kuroko leaning in, her heart pounding so hard in her chest she thought it might explode.

"In regards to your other concerns. As you well know based on your question, prosthetic replacements for lost limbs is something that Academy City and this hospital are equipped to do. However." He quickly cut in as Kuroko began to swell up in some excitement.

"The damage to your arms was extensive, and you have the unfortunate circumstances of them also being linked to your Esper power, a power that Academy City poorly understands in comparison to many other powers. This will be a process, Shirai-san. And one that is not guaranteed to end entirely the way you want it to. We will have to perform this step by step, carefully, and with close observation. Any rejection your body might have could have disastrous consequences, not the least of which is uncontrolled teleportation of yourself or your implants"

He explained as softly as he could, even as Kuroko deflated very rapidly. "I… see." She said softly, shifting around in her bed.

"I cannot guarantee everything Shirai-san. But I can guarantee that we here will do our absolute best to do what we can for you. If it is possible to return your full mobility and powers, we WILL find it." The doctor said with absolute confidence that somehow did not trespass into arrogance- just grandfatherly comfort.

Kuroko was still a bit deflated, but gave him a small smile in appreciation.

"Beyond that, based on your own readiness, we can discharge you within the week. I am told accommodations have been prepared for you, and we will have medical equipment available for you to better adjust." He finished, Kuroko sighing in a relieved way. Getting out of the hospital sounded like a dream come true. She felt so stifled and cooped up.

"Unless you have any questions.." He paused, to which Kuroko shook her head. "Then I shall take my leave. Good day, Shira-san, Uiharu-san." He gave a polite nod to both of them before departing.

Uiharu looked to Kuroko, who looked just plain exhausted from the conversation.

"Hey, Uiharu, sorry but… I think I'm going to lie down for a bit, OK?" She gave a weak smile, Uiharu standing and smiling back brightly.

"No problem, rest well, Shirai-san." She gave a energetic bow before taking her leave. As she got out of the room, she reached into her pocket and removed the phone, holding it in her hand as she began to walk the halls, twisting and turning around the massive facility until she stopped at a dead end that capped the hall with a large window. She stopped at the window, staring out it as she removed the phone, dialing a number and putting it to her ear, waiting. As the receiver picked up, she spoke.

"I am at the window." She stated, staring out it, her eyes going out of focus for a moment before coming back in a flash. She listened to the voice on the other end, responding to each question they made of her.

"No, that's everything. Yes. Yes. I understand, I will continue to keep an eye on Shirai-san. I'll call you if anything changes." She finished, pulling the phone away and hanging it up, sliding it into her pocket. She yawned loudly, rubbing her tired eyes and stretching. "Time to go home." She said to herself, humming quietly as she strode down the hall, making her way home with a carefree smile.


	3. Chapter 3 - Wheel of Fortune, Upright

Kuroko panted, her lungs burning, as she sprinted down seemingly never-ending alleys, chasing after specters and silhouettes that evaded and mocked her.

"W-wait! Stop!" She cried out, her hand reaching out to grab at one of the shadowy figures before it vanished like mist through her fingers. She froze as she heard a dripping sound, smelled a revolting scent. She turned, finding herself in a familiar alley. Amidst a massive pool of blood was the mutilated and disfigured body of Misaka Mikoto, her face contorted into agony.

"No, no, no… This isn't real, this isn't real, this is just a dream, just a nightmare." She threw her hands over her ears and squeezed her eyes shut as she tried to block it all out. She felt her feet losing balance, as if the floor was trying to slip out from under her, the thought quickly interrupted as a voice broke through to her ears despite her attempts to block out the sounds.

"I will NEVER be a dream…" Hissed a giggling, malicious voice, forcing Kuroko to open her eyes and look around the alley in a panic. "...But I will always be your nightmare, Kuroko-chan." Whispered the voice of Indigo into her ear, her head snapping to look over her shoulder into the evil giggling, sadistic expression of the snake-faced murderer. His right eye glowed like a bright violet light, while his hateful left eye bore into her soul.

"I will ALWAYS be there for you, Kuroko-chan…" He walked toward her as Kuroko spun around, her feet pedaling backward as she tried to get away from him, slipping in a pool of blood and crashing onto the ground with a splash as he dived at her. She threw her arms up to defend herself, but found that they were suddenly gone, replaced with nothing but stumps. Indigo closed the distance, his hand closing around her neck tightly.

"Always, little girl, I will always be there for you…" He said softly in an intimate, sadistic manner, a thumb gingerly running across her cheek to wipe at growing tears as his grin widened, the disgusting level of intimacy made Kuroko revolted beyond imagining, the urge to vomit only defeated by her desire to breathe through his strangling hold. Tears streamed down her face as she wanted to escape, wanted out of this-

Her wish was, somewhat, granted. She found herself on a shaking piece of metal, a massive flaming hunk of debris barreling toward the city. Her hands were pressed into the searing shell of the missile, her mind entirely focused in desperation to act, to save the city… to save her. FEELING the space around her, every little sliver of it, and urging the energy within to obey her commands. She felt the searing agony as she sensed her arms first crack every bone, followed by the skin bursting forth blood from what felt like every pore. Agony beyond compare, only surpassed as she watched her arms bending unnaturally before ripping themselves out of existence just as the metal meteor exploded violently, a silent scream of horrific agony filling the air, quieted by the debris that refused to allow her to speak.

She focused on the spark in her heart that compelled her to do this…

Her memories drifted from it as she focused on that spark. She found herself kneeling over a wounded, barely conscious Mikoto. She felt her lips press against the girl's temple before a word of farewell slipped from her lips, turning toward her death…

* * *

Kuroko awoke from her twisting dreams and nightmares with a muffled scream, clenching her teeth shut tight so she wouldn't alert the hospital staff. She panted hard, her chest heaving up and down from under the blanket as she stared up at the ceiling of the room. She sat up, panting, trying vainly to wipe sweat off her brow with great difficulty.

"This has to stop… he's dead. He can't do anything to you anymore." She whispered quietly, that maddening, evil giggle echoing in her ears. She clenched her jaw tightly as she refused to let anymore tears shame her face. She stared down at the empty space where her arms should be, aching and burning pain searing through the empty space. What greater injustice was there that she was forced to feel physical pain to a limb that no longer even existed. Tormented by dreams of that snake-faced bastard.

"This… has to stop."

* * *

Kuroko was beyond relieved when she finished the discharge paperwork and was being safely wheeled out on a wheelchair by Uiharu.

"Finally free…" Kuroko groaned, having spent far too much time in that hospital room. "Sorry, Uiharu, but I think you'll be flying without me in Judgement for… well, the foreseeable future." Kuroko sighed a bit as they got to a car that had been called for them, Uiharu helping Kuroko in as she put the wheelchair in the trunk.

"O-oh, I, uh… I actually decided to take a leave of absence." Uiharu said as she slipped into the car seat next to Kuroko, who gave her a look of surprise. Kuroko stared for a moment before she got her wits about her.

"But why? You love being Judgement, Uiharu." Kuroko said, leaning back in the seat and blushing with a tinge of humiliation as Uiharu reached over and buckled Kuroko in. She felt like a child every time someone helped her with such tiny mundane things.

"I do… but I…" She shrugged a little. "I think I need to collect myself better… I just haven't been focused or motivated. Too much has happened that I'm still… processing." Uiharu said quietly, looking out the window and away from Kuroko, who sat in her seat silently.

"I… I see." Kuroko said softly, deciding that pushing this particular topic may be a poor idea. The rest of the drive was fairly uneventful, with Kuroko nearly drifting off a few times, snapping herself out of her groggy state. While hospital drugs are often just great to feel relaxed, getting off of them sometimes was just plain horrific. At the moment, it was just making her feel like she was running off a half-empty battery. A very groggy, irritable, tired battery. The nightmares she'd been having were disrupting her ability to get any decent amount of sleep.

Her thoughts maintained their groggy drowsiness before she was roused from her nearly incoherent state by a gentle shoulder pat from Uiharu. Kuroko blinked out of her stupor, turning to Uiharu who met her look with a handkerchief to her mouth with that kind and soft smile that Uiharu seemed to hold so uniquely. She then turned a fierce red when she realized that Uiharu was wiping a little drool off her face.

Kuroko mumbled something between a garbled thanks and an unintelligible excuse for the line of saliva, doing her best to hide her humiliation. Uiharu said nothing in response, just smiling as she slid over to her car door and slid out. Kuroko waited for the door to be opened for her, sighing a little as self-pitying thoughts began to surface in her mind.

The door opened and Kuroko mindlessly stepped out and was faced with a familiar face she hadn't seen in quite a long time- well, felt like several months even if it was actually well over a year. Tsuchimikado Maika, a maid-in-training who was going to one of several Academy City's maid schools. She was often working at Tokiwadai back before Kuroko had gone into her coma, serving the various young ladies that studied there.

"Hey, Shirai! Good to see you again." She gave a polite bow, her blueish hair swept back and held in place by her maid headband. Her entire outfit was one you might expect on a high-class maid.

Kuroko felt that mild annoyance she often felt with Tsuchimikado's habit of calling people by their family names in an extremely familiar manner, despite her chosen profession as a house servant. She'd long ago given up on trying to correct her though. She helped Kuroko get out of the car, Kuroko wavering a bit as she had yet to grow fully adept at balancing without the use of her full arms. It was so easy to forget just how much role they played in everyday activities.

Kuroko regained her balance with a little help, looking up at where they had arrived. She had been expecting the dorms, but was quickly proven wrong. In front of her, clearly tucked away in a fairly nice part of the city not far from the Windowless Administration Building- she could see it from where she was standing- was… well, mansion would not be appropriate, but it was certainly a fairly large private house.

"Um… where are we?" Kuroko asked, looking at Uiharu and Tsuchimikado in turn. Uiharu looked briefly surprised.

"O-oh! Right! I didn't tell you, I'm sorry!" She said, looking flustered. "Our dorms and schools and a lot of other stuff was badly d-damaged, so they rented out t-this place. For us. All of us." She explained, with a slight stutter in her voice that Kuroko knew was her tell when she was trying to hide something. Kuroko wasn't sure what though, and honestly, was too groggy to care.

"So… this is our temporary residence?" Kuroko clarified, looking back at the house. It was gated and walled, with a small lawn and garden that looked like it'd been made to be peaceful. The entirety of the house had an interesting mixture of both serenity and relaxing atmosphere, with a layer of clear additional security. It did not escape Kuroko's notice that there were a small number of cars parked down the road at key points that she knew from her work in Judgement would be Anti-Skill stakeout locations.

"And I volunteered to help you guys out." Said the ever-so-casual maid who happily took their bags out of the trunk, placing a few on top of a cleaning bot that had followed Maika outside. Uiharu provided her body as a leaning pole for Kuroko as they walked through the gate that automatically opened for them and then closed behind them the second they were through with a click that indicated a lock.

"Such security…" Kuroko muttered, to which Maid Maiko provided her commentary.

"Well, duh. You and Misaka are famous even more than before. I heard about that attack on the hospital too, someone got badly injured." Maiko commented as she easily carried the large bags inside, her cleaning robot on her heels like an especially loyal canine. "And I couldn't live with myself if I couldn't help you guys get readjusted back into your routines. You both have been through so much!" Maiko smiled brightly as she used her back to open the front door, holding it open for both Kuroko and Uiharu who walked through, trailed by a hard-working cleaning robot. If there was one thing that Kuroko could respect, it was Maika's endless compassion, and genuine desire to help.

Inside, the first sight that fell into Kuroko's eyes was a very cozy foyer, a staircase at the center that ascended up and curved apart in two opposite directions onto the second floor of the house. It was decorated with neutral, but comforting decor- vases, some with flowers, bookshelves, various sundries. Admittedly, Kuroko was far too groggy to give it more attention. The wood floor was nice… the ceiling was a pretty darker blue shade… and Kuroko realized her thoughts were starting to drift again. She quickly sealed her lips tight to make sure she wasn't drooling like some kind of child again.

"Kuroko!" The voice of one of the most important people in this world broke her right out of her daze, her eyes shooting open as Mikoto made her way down the stairs as fast as she could down the stairs, Saten following behind her with a hand raised, ready to grab at Mikoto's collar were she to slip. It spoke volumes of previous experience.

Mikoto closed the distance and without hesitation wrapped Kuroko in her arms, squeezing her to her chest. Kuroko felt a lecherous part of her mind distinctly note that her womanly assets were most definitely bigger than the last time she'd felt them press against her.

"Are you feeling OK? Is there anything I can do? Does anything hurt?" Mikoto showered her with questions while holding on to her for dear life. Kuroko didn't respond, instead leaning into Mikoto and burying her face against Mikoto's pajama top. She didn't even care that Mikoto was lazing about the house in her childish cartoon pajamas. She just savored the feeling with a content sigh.

"Kuroko?" Mikoto asked softly, still holding onto her.

"Onee-sama…" She sighed out pleasantly, not looking up, just nesting in the warm spot on Mikoto's chest. Were she to look, she'd notice that Mikoto had gone from relieved and overjoyed at seeing Kuroko, to burning red in the face as the three others in the room grinned like canary-fed cats. Maiko guided her little cleaning bot up the stairs to put away the bags while Saten and Uiharu held a painfully fake conversation about checking to see what was to be made for dinner and leaving them in the room. Just her. And Kuroko. Alone.

"You've… g-gotten taller." Mikoto stuttered out in embarrassment. What was she supposed to say? She had not mentally prepared for this! Sure, a hug, and a conversation like old friends, that she had been ready for. Kuroko… wasn't even doing anything overly lecherous. Just cuddling up close to her. And Mikoto did not know how to respond. Her obvious observation didn't grab Kuroko's attention either.

"U-um, you must be tired? Want me to help you to your room?" She asked quietly to Kuroko, shifting just a little, one arm releasing the hug so she could use her forearm crutch to maintain her balance. That seemed to break Kuroko out of her hug-induced trance.

"My room? You mean our room, right?" Kuroko said as she looked up at Mikoto with alarm. Mikoto blinked.

"U-um, they actually gave us separate rooms." Mikoto explained, meeting Kuroko's eyes. They looked… almost heartbroken. It gave Mikoto a feeling like a knife twisting in her chest.

"O-oh." Was all Kuroko said, trying weakly to hide her blatant disappointment. Mikoto didn't really know how to respond, so she settled on guiding Kuroko up the stairs, using her forearm crutch in one hand while the other wrapped around Kuroko's waist as they moved up the stairs carefully, turning to the right. The second floor, Kuroko noted, had a U shaped floor pattern, a large hole at the center where the stairs ascended through. Toward the opposite side of the floor of where the stairs deposited the girls was a small sitting area that sat at the center of a collection of six doors- two on each wall, excluding the wall the stairways wrapped against.

"This looks nice… I wonder if this is our reward for saving the city?" Kuroko mumbled somewhat absently. Mikoto couldn't help but worry, her mind jumping between theories. Was she just tired? Upset? In pain?

Mikoto did her best to keep a composed face as she helped Kuroko over to one of the doors on the left side. "Here, this one is yours. Mine is right next to it." She pointed at the adjacent door on the same wall. Mikoto opened the door and helped Kuroko in. Within the room was a bed, a desk, some boxes that looked like they'd been delivered from the hospital, and what looked to be a small row of orange vials filled with medication. Kuroko glowered a bit at those.

"Yeah, I had those in my room when I got here too…" She sighed loudly, helping Kuroko to the bed. One of the few amenities in the room that Kuroko actually appreciated for the thought was a quiet, gentle fountain plugged into the wall. It was definitely helping her relax despite her frustration. She noted another door in the room, likely to a bathroom or closet.

Mikoto stared down at Kuroko as she began to quietly glower, lost in her thoughts it seemed. Mikoto wasn't sure how to act, squirming a bit as a barrage of thoughts went through her head.

"U-um, I'm gonna go check on Saten and Uiharu, I'll let you rest." Mikoto said softly, to which Kuroko surprisingly only nodded silently. Mikoto hesitated, but decided that running away from her emotions and thoughts was easier than confronting them.

And with a soft click of the door, Kuroko was alone once more. She shifted on the bed to bury her face into a pillow, groaning in a loud muffled expression of frustration.

"Damn it…"

* * *

Dress shoes clacked against the dark echoing metal hallway of his facility as Indigo gripped at his aching eye socket. Every time he got down here, the cold made it ache, and filled him with the hateful murderous rage that he felt so very often.

"Damn it all. DAMN IT ALL." He hissed, pulling his hand away from the eyepatch. Years of planning and simulations, endless preparations, hundreds of quiet deaths, all in vain. All because of HER, that disgusting little teleporter. She ruined everything, EVERYTHING.

He strode through an automatic pair of doors at the end of the hallway, entering into his private lab. Tanks, expensive lab equipment, and ongoing experiments surrounded him, and he barely noticed. He needed a solution to this problem. He needed to kill them- no. No, he needed to break them. To make them suffer. To teach them the lesson of what happens to those who get in his way, those who interfere with his perfectly laid plans.

"But what to use…" He muttered as he paused at one tank filled with nutrition fluid. His eyes fell on the holographic display at the bottom of the tank.

"Subject F-T0… No, she's not worth the effort." He discarded that idea casually and continued down through the rows of machinery, grinding his teeth in seething rage before he paused at one tank.

Inside, a slim figure floated, occasionally twitching, showing signs of consciousness.

"But you… Oh yes, you might work." He pressed a gloved hand against the tank. The figure within moved slightly, and through their eyes, all they could see was a hand pressed against the glass, and the obscured facial features of a snake-like madman with a wide grin that stretched from ear to ear, his empty socket glowing ever so slightly.

"Yes… This will be fuuuun."

The lab filled with the echoing, giggling high pitched laughter of a creature devoid of soul, in the guise of a man.


	4. Chapter 4 - Death, Upright

A/N: Special shoutout to DschingisKhan and Raineh_Daze, two of my most dedicated reviewers on and ArchiveofourOwn respectively. Reviews very much help motivate me, and help me build and learn as a writer so I can improve myself and learn what others like, and what others see that I might not see. Your time is appreciated. And an additional shoutout to all my readers from across the world. I have readers from the US, to the UK, to France, Germany, Netherlands, Finland, Peru, Australia, Russia, Singapore, Canada, India, Philippines, Mexico, Panama, El Salvador, Venezuela, Japan, Colombia, Brunei, Argentinia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Ukraine, Bulgaria, and, according to the website, "Europe". I appreciate and am humbled by all of your guys viewership. Thank you!

* * *

Indigo's eyes- well, eye- snapped open with excitement as he practically leaped out of his seat in his office, his long cotton jacket falling off the backrest and onto the ground. "She's dead… She's DEAD!" He nearly screamed in joy, his snake-like grin threatening to snap his face apart. He snatched a towel off his desk and began to wipe some of the blood off of his hands and arms, his sleeves rolled up, while giggling madly, unable to stop himself, ignoring the whimpers of pain and fear from the naked and bloody figure strapped to the chair several feet from him.

"Yes… No matter where I look, she's gone! She's gone! And I was so worried, for nothing…" He giggled out, the laughter echoing across the room before he grinned even wider and turned his attention back to the pitiful creature next to him. "Break time over." His victim was still whimpering and sobbing pathetically as they looked up at his approach.

"P-please…"

"Shhh…" He placed a finger to their lips to silence them, his other hand stroking their cheek. "We're not done yet."

And the screaming resumed, as he continued his work.

* * *

Kuroko rested her chin on her desk in her new room and glowered at the row of prescription vials of pills that Heaven Canceller had sent over with her discharge. It had been a week since she'd gotten settled in, and more than once had read the instructions that had been left behind by the doctor regarding all the medications he'd left for her. A lot of them were "as needed", mostly to help her transition out. The ones that made her glower the most were the antidepressants. She'd at first been indignant that she'd ever need them… but two weeks in, and she'd already taken them twice.

Another sigh as she lifted her chin off of the table and leaned back in her chair. It was getting hard to feel motivated to get out of bed so she could drift through the day as an invalid who couldn't even feed herself.

"This sucks…"

* * *

"Sorrrrry!" Saten ran out of the kitchen covering her head with a donut in her mouth as she fled Maid Maika who was smacking at her skull with a broom.

"Stop stealing sweets before lunch!" The maid huffed at her as she gave up the chase, putting a hand on her hip, spinning in place and marching back into the kitchen to resume cooking lunch. Uiharu, who had been sitting at the Japanese-style kotatsu with her laptop on the table in front of her watching Saten flee, the donut-thief diving underneath the kotatsu blanket to hide herself from the broom.

"Really, Saten-san, when are you gonna learn-" Uiharu began before her face turned a bright burning red as she felt her skirt flip underneath the blanket.

"SATEN!" She screamed out in protest, throwing her hands down to push her skirt down under the blanket.

Saten snickered as she crawled out the other end of the blanket, her mouth mostly full of donut that she had inhaled, swallowing it down with some struggling.

"Sorry, sorry. Bad habits." She says, smiling a bit and putting her hands up together, looking at best marginally guilty. Uiharu just sighed and shook her head, unable to see Saten's guiltier expression. Saten was so used to being playful with Uiharu she kept doing sexually teasing things, and kept kicking herself after the fact. Uiharu never responded any different than she had reacted before Treefall, so it was so easy to forget and…

"Saten-san?" Saten jerked her head up as she realized she'd spaced out. Uiharu was looking at her with some concern. How was Uiharu, of all of them, the one who seemed completely unaffected by all of this?

"Sorry, I spaced out. So, how's-"

"How are you doing, Saten-san?" Uiharu asked suddenly, closing her laptop. Saten paused, taken off guard by the seriousness on Uiharu's face. Uiharu rested her hands in her lap in a polite modest posture as she kept her gaze on Saten.

"O-oh, just fine, you know, same old same old, pretty sure I'll be done with that therapy soon, so that's good-" She began, waving off the concerns.

"The therapy you haven't been going to?" Uiharu asked in a calm, but very pointed manner that hit Saten in the heart like a knife. A silence followed as Saten felt her facade crack, her mind trying to find something to say, but could only scrounge up the obvious question.

"How… how did you…?"

"Know you've been skipping? I worry. I worry a lot. I started watching the camera's to make sure you were getting to your appointments safely, and saw you going everywhere except your appointments whenever you said you were going to them." She answered, keeping her eyes on her friend. Saten leaned back and sat down on a pillow, looking into her lap.

Saten kept opening her mouth and looking up then closing it and looking back down. She had been caught in her lie, and had no idea how to respond.

"I don't… I don't understand how you can be so… Just, you." Saten said quietly, still staring into her lap. "You almost endured one of the worst things that can happen to someone. I just… I don't get it."

Uiharu let out a little wistful sigh. "You're changing the subject a little, but…" She smiled slightly to Saten. "I'm better because I took a lot of time addressing it. I spent months jumping at shadows, sleeping with the lights on, checking locks several times, never going anywhere alone; letting it eat at me. I couldn't live like that, Saten-san. I got help. You need to do that too." She explained, trying her best to catch Saten's eyes who, in turn, was doing her best to keep her eyes pointed at her lap.

They sat in silence for several long minutes before Uiharu got up and moved around the table and sat next to Saten, pulling her sideways into a hug.

"You're my hero, Saten-san. Always will be. So please, for me… Get the help you need." Uiharu said quietly, hugging her as tightly as tiny Uiharu could. Saten leaned into the hug, hanging her head down and letting her bangs conceal her face, not speaking a word, but nodding softly. Uiharu smiled as she responded to the soft gesture.

"Thank you."

* * *

Kuroko jumped a little from where she was sitting on her bed as she heard a knock at her door.

"Come in." She said, the door opening in response. Kuroko's face immediately warmed into a smile as Mikoto walked in, leaning on her crutch a little.

"Hey Kuroko. How are you doing today?" She asked as she walked inside, Kuroko bouncing on the bed a few times and using the bounce to hop onto her feet.

"Hanging in there. I'm supposed to get a call from the doctor sometime today about my test results. He said that they were running tests on my AIM field." She said, walking over and resting her head against Mikoto's chest. Kuroko, admittedly, had started doing this more and more often, mainly because Mikoto wasn't stopping her when she wasn't doing it.

"O-oh, that's… good." Mikoto stuttered out. "Um, Maika was making lunch, why don't we go eat? I'll feed you." Mikoto said, smiling, Kuroko pulling back with a soft, mixed smile. She hated to be fed like a child, but being spoon-fed by Mikoto… that was a fairly happy compromise.

"Sure."

* * *

As Kuroko and Mikoto got down to the sitting room where they'd made the habit of taking their meals, decorated with a holographic TV on a medium sized TV stand, a kotatsu with a dark blue blanket at the center, and several shelving units for the girls various belongings that had quickly become filled with random items that ranged between computer parts belonging to Uiharu, to Gekota merchandise that belonged to Mikoto.

Saten and Uiharu were already seated at the table, Saten looking like she'd just washed her face, and had waved off the questioning looks from both Kuroko and Mikoto. As the four got comfortable, Maika brought out their lunches, an easy-to-eat collection of bite-sized sushi made to ensure Kuroko could eat without difficulty, they began to relax and talk.

"So, I have to ask." Saten said, pointing her fork at Kuroko and Mikoto. "Since you two have gotten out of the hospital, neither of you have cut your hair yet. Do you plan to, or are you gonna try it at these lengths?" She asked. Indeed, Mikoto's hair went down all the way passed her lower back, and Kuroko's, which had formerly been to her mid-back, had grown all the way to the back of her knees.

"O-oh." Mikoto reached over her shoulder and played at some of the strands which had been pulled into a loose ponytail in the back. "I mean, I hadn't really thought about it much." She admitted, shrugging a bit. "Thinking of maybe cut-" She began to quietly say before Kuroko interjected.

"You look beautiful with such long hair." Kuroko smiled at her, the compliment remarkably innocent intention for Kuroko, who had looked away from her to lean down and sip from her drink straw after saying it. Mikoto paused in her thought about cutting it. Maybe she could do something else with it?

...Why had she suddenly reconsidered cutting it because of Kuroko's compliment? Clearly, there had to be a rational, non-emotional reason that was completely obvious that did not require her to be introspective.

Thankfully, Kuroko's ringing cell phone rescued her from this train of thought. Mikoto reached over and pulled the cell phone out of Kuroko's project as Kuroko raised her hip up to her and gave her a meaningful look, turning the phone on speaker for Kuroko and holding it for her.

"Doctor?" Kuroko asked softly to the phone's holographic display, which showed a line measuring sounds as it came across you often saw on MP3's.

"Good afternoon, Shirai-san. I have the results of your AIM test. Do you need a moment to get some privacy?" He asked in that grandfatherly way he had.

"No, it's fine. I want everyone here to know." Kuroko said, earning some surprised looks. Kuroko made no comment on them, simply staring down at the holographic display of her phone.

"Very well, Shirai-san…" He said, his voice somewhat heavy. Mikoto felt her heart pound a little. Something in his voice was worrying her. Deeply.

"We measured your residual AIM field in comparison to your previous System Scan that measured your powers at Level 4." He began, the sound of him shifting something on the other end. Kuroko leaned forward, and Mikoto could practically feel her heartbeat pounding from where she sat a foot from her.

"...I'm afraid to say that, despite numerous recalculations and checking of our instruments… Your AIM field is gone, Shirai-san." He said as softly as he could. There was an echoing silence through the room as Kuroko stared down at the phone, her jaw shaking a bit.

"I'm… Level 0?" She asked softly, clenching her jaw. There was a brief, hesitating silence on the other end of the phone.

"... No, Shirai-san. Even Level 0's have a trace field. I am deeply sorry, but…" He sighed on the other end as the entire room felt the temperature drop.

"...You are no longer an Esper."

* * *

Mikoto stood outside of Kuroko's closed door, leaning heavily on her crutch. Kuroko had quietly and politely excused herself from the table after hanging up the phone. None of her friends knew what to even say to her. Mikoto had departed not long after, and now stood where she was now, having stood here for the past fifteen minutes, her mind reeling and panicking and despairing.

She had done this. She had taken everything from Kuroko. Judgement. Her arms. Her powers. Once Tokiwadai found out… even her academic career. What could she do? What could she say?

She found herself raising her arm for what felt like the hundredth time to knock on the door, but this time, it instead opened with the automatic switch Kuroko had, Kuroko blinking in surprise as she saw Mikoto standing there with her hand raised.

"Onee-sama! I was just about to head over to the bath. Would you help me?" She asked softly, smiling at her. That smile hurt like a knife in the gut. How? How could Kuroko smile at her like that.

"S-sure." Mikoto said weakly, stepping back to let Kuroko through. The walk over to the fairly large bath-area that had been included in the house was silent, with Mikoto doing everything short of panicking. She stared at the back of Kuroko's head, her long hair bouncing a little as they walked downstairs and went around and behind the staircase. A small hall behind the stairs turned immediately into what could only be described as a private bathhouse. Mikoto had, originally, grown more and more suspicious at the amount of luxury that was in this house.

But those thoughts were as far as could be from her right now. Kuroko walked inside and lightly poked at a digital display with a toe next to the bath to get water running before turning to Mikoto.

"Onee-sama? Mind helping me undress?" She asked, turning to Mikoto who was doing her best to keep her expression from showing the darkness that was on her mind. Mikoto just gave a nod and walked over to Kuroko, helping her out of her clothes as best she could, blushing just slightly. Kuroko was remarkably quiet, her eyes a little distant.

"I'd appreciate it if you could help me wash up, it's a bit difficult." She said with a trace of embarrassment.

"S-sure, yeah…" Mikoto shifted around uncomfortably, undressing so she wouldn't get soaked herself, wrapping herself in a towel as Kuroko sat on a bath stool. Why? Why was something like this like pure torture? Kuroko wasn't trying anything lecherous or even making any comments. Not that Mikoto should be surprised, Kuroko should hate her more than anyone. Why would she even want to be near her?

"Onee-sama?" Kuroko looked over her shoulder, breaking Mikoto out of her dark pitying thoughts, who moved over and quietly began to wash at Kuroko's back. Silence stretched on before Mikoto finally had the courage to say something.

"...I'm sorry." she said softly, her arms sliding to a stop as she stared down at the wet floor, her hands shaking a bit. What Kuroko said next was… baffling.

"For what?"

Mikoto could only blink as she stared down. For what? FOR WHAT? How… But… How could she even…?

Mikoto's grip on the towel slipped as it landed on the floor and she looked up at Kuroko with a look of dark shock. "For… what?" Kuroko turned her head slightly, but Mikoto continued without interruption.

"Kuroko… I ruined your life. I ruined everything. I took away everything you cared about and worked for, because of my own foolishness, how… how could you say that? You… you above anyone else have the right to hate me-" She didn't get to finish that thought before a blur of movement surprised her.

Rather suddenly, Mikoto felt a sharp pain as she landed on her back hard, absently noting her towel falling open, her eyes squeezing shut for a second before she opened them. Kuroko had her knees on either side of Mikoto's hips, leaning down so their faces were inches from each other, Kuroko's long hair like a curtain on either side of their faces.

"Never say that." Kuroko breathed out to her, her light brown eyes meeting with Mikoto's chestnut. "Never." The ferocity in her gaze paralyzed Mikoto, and in that moment, she did not feel like the Railgun at all. She felt like Misaka Mikoto- a fifteen year old teenager, and nothing else.

"If you think, for even one single moment, that I regret what I did, that I regret losing my arms to save you or this city, that I hold second thoughts, then you are only revealing how secretive you are being with how much pain you are in. That day you cried in my lap, I didn't blame you then. I don't blame you now. Stop carrying that. Stop."

Kuroko said this all with a stern gaze and a physical closeness that caused Mikoto to only turn a burning red and weakly let out a squeak of a wordless reply.

"I am done crying. I am done feeling sorry for myself. This will NOT be the end of me, it will NOT. I am done letting the monsters who did this haunt me. And don't think, that for even one second, that you are one of those monsters. You are the most precious person in my life, who I will always love, even if you never reciprocate." Mikoto felt a stab of pain as she said those words, her mouth moving weakly, wordlessly. Kuroko held their gaze, almost unblinking, before she moved closer, her eyes half-lidded.

Was she going to-!?

But she didn't. She felt Kuroko's breath against her lips, but she didn't come closer. She waited. Nothing. Kuroko's eyes held the gaze, and for a moment, Mikoto saw the depths of sadness fill it. Kuroko closed her eyes for a second, taking a breath, before moving back. Mikoto felt her heart pounding in panic, felt a need to act, to do something, to do anything, she had to… she had to…

Mikoto closed the distance between them.


	5. Chapter 5 - The Lovers, Upright

Was… Was this real life? Was this actually happening? Kuroko had been in such a compromising position with the person she cared so very much about, her heart aching as she heard the self-loathing words pouring out of the other girls mouth. She had just acted on instinct and let her own thoughts spill from her own lips. At this point, she could barely remember what she'd said to Mikoto, all she could think about, with her eyes as wide as saucers…

Was how soft Mikoto's lips were.

She didn't want to force herself on Mikoto, she wanted it to be her choice, she didn't… expect her to… actually… accept...

Kuroko felt her eyes drift closed, Mikoto's own eyes squeezed as tightly shut as she could make them. Kuroko sank down against Mikoto, unable to support herself with just her legs any longer, the girl beneath her sinking down onto the warm bathroom floor herself. Kuroko had no idea how long this kiss lasted, it felt like an eternity and it still wasn't long enough.

She wasn't sure when their lips had parted, for she was broken from her reverie as her name was called.

"K-Kuroko…"

Kuroko blinked her eyes open, her face burning red and lips still partly hanging open. Mikoto had a similar expression, though it was filled with intensely flustered embarrassment and panic.

"Um, I… I… I don't… Uh…" Mikoto had no idea what to say. That much was obvious to Kuroko. It was very cute. Kuroko wasn't sure what to tell her. How do you tell someone that they'd just made you feel like the luckiest person alive?

"I'm… I'm s-" Nope. Kuroko wasn't listening to another apology. She pushed her lips against Mikoto's again and cut the attempted sorry right off with a happy quivering trill, though controlled herself after she felt Mikoto tense up in shock and give out her own surprised squeak, pulling back and smiling down at the other girl. Mikoto's mouth hung open, her face as red as brick and as frozen in place as stone.

"Apologize, and I kiss you again." Kuroko explained, smiling at her with her own red face. "So, please… apologize as much as you like." This statement got Mikoto to close her mouth and shrink in raw embarrassment. Kuroko leaned down and nuzzled her face into the crook of Mikoto's neck, ignoring the minor aches she was feeling underneath the sleeves around her stumps. Nothing could take away from this moment.

* * *

Mikoto was in a state of pure, complete, utter panic. Her heart was beating so hard in her chest she thought it might explode. She had acted on pure impulse, feeling like an opportunity that she may never have again was slipping away, irrational fear flooding her mind, and now… Now... A billion emotions tossed and turned inside of her head, and the one that confused her more than anything else, the one that fluttered and soared through her that she was trying so hard not to acknowledge, but failing so spectacularly, was…

...Just how happy it made her feel. The elation of joy that had leaped from her heart when their lips met was eclipsing everything, even as that joy was thrown about in a sea of tempestuous anxiety and confusion.

"Onee-sama… You're zapping me." She heard Kuroko say from the crook of her neck. Indeed, in her excited emotional state, she was letting out little electric jolts.

"S-sor-!" She began, and Kuroko immediately began to move from her neck with the most devious grin on her face, prompting Mikoto to stop and seal her lips shut with intense embarrassment. Kuroko had a mix of satisfaction and disappointment at the success of her teasing, though it began to slide off her face slowly as she shifted her shoulder a bit.

"...ow." She winced, rotating her shoulder as she tried to shake off a little pain. "...Ow. OW OW OW!" She got up on her knees quickly, scrambling off of Mikoto as she tried to move over to the bath, Mikoto getting to her feet as she helped Kuroko try to get to her goal of the bath, shoving her arm into the bath water with a crying wince.

Kuroko let out a muffled scream of pain through clenched teeth as she shoved first one stump followed quickly by the other into the water, her body clearly being wracked by pain. Mikoto was panicked, didn't know what to do, didn't know what was happening.

"What… What is going on?"

* * *

Indigo looked up from his chair in his subterranean laboratory, eye snapping open, as his seemingly endless smile finally slid off his face as stark pure horror gripped him. He slowly stood from his chair as his gaze fell from Academy City, inch by inch, no matter how tight his grip squeezed.

"That's… But she's… _Oh, NO…"_

* * *

"It hurts, it hurts, it hurts so much! Why… why do my arms hurt?" Kuroko cried out as she tried to restrain her tears, her body wracked with constant waves of pain. "H-help… P-please help..." She whimpered out to the girl pressed against her. Mikoto didn't know what to do. Kuroko's arms no longer had nerves for her to soothe, how was she supposed to relieve arms that no longer existed?

She was certainly going to fucking try. Mikoto hugged Kuroko from behind, placing her chin on top of Kuroko's head, her hands moving to Kuroko's core, her palms pressing firmly against it. If she couldn't directly touch the arms, maybe she could help her whole body? She heard Kuroko hyperventilating in front of her, felt her trembling. Mikoto focused on the electrical impulses firing through Kuroko's body, sending surges of her own into her muscles, finding every little ache and pain that might be causing her even the slightest bit of discomfort, real or imagined.

She moved to the arms that caused her such misery, pushing aside the self-pity and blame to focus on the task at hand, chasing the nerves to their end… their end… where…

Where was she?

She should have stopped short of Kuroko's upper arms, right where the arms had been amputated by her powers, but now she was… somewhere else. She didn't… she couldn't comprehend it. She tried to open her eyes, but couldn't. She could only feel her own body and Kuroko's, feel their electrical impulses mixing together, but no matter how much electricity she used to soothe Kuroko's arms, it vanished away into nothingness, into this ether she found herself in.

"-ama…" She heard Kuroko's voice calling out to her. It was so distant and weak. Mikoto focused harder, fighting through this bizarre void she found herself in toward the pain that was hurting Kuroko. As she follow Kuroko's nervous system, it was completely normal until it hit her arms, and then it went seemingly in… more directions than Mikoto could comprehend, it gave her a migraine. How… How did that even make a modicum of logic or sense?

"MIKOTO!"

Mikoto finally opened her eyes, gasping for a breath she didn't realize she was holding, taking fast, gasping breaths as if she had been suffocating, finding herself collapsed onto her back in the bathroom.

"MIKOTO, LET HER GO!" She heard the voice of Saten pierce through the fog of her oxygen deprived brain, and that was when she realized she was squeezing the life out of Kuroko. She released her quickly, Kuroko gasping for air as her torso was released for air, gasping in lungfuls of air. Uiharu and Maika rushed over to both of them with towels, helping them get some decency.

"W-What happened?" Mikoto wheezed out, Kuroko giving a wheezing attempt at agreeing, but only nodding as she struggled to agree with this sentiment.

"We thought you could tell us. The whole house began to flicker in power, so, you know, we went and found the most likely culprit and found you squeezing the life out of Shirai-san." Saten said as Uiharu knelt next to Kuroko who shook off any worries, mostly out of a need to shake off any concern that Mikoto did anything wrong.

"R-really, I'm fine, I was having a phantom pain episode, Onee-sama was helping relieve it was all." Kuroko said, attempting to sit up and slipping a bit, thrusting a stump out to catch herself against the edge of the bathtub.

 **DINK.**

"Dink?" The five girls in the room said in unison as the metallic clink against stone resounded through the air. They all looked at Kuroko's stump, which for the most part was as it was before… with the exception of the cap of swirling night-black metal that most certainly had not been there before.

"What in the…" Kuroko gasped out, shifting slightly, her eyes twitching before rapidly switching to look at her other stump which had an identical, though mirrored, cap.

"...What." The five said in unison once more.

* * *

"I may have to revise my earlier assessment." Heaven Canceller said, examining the black metal caps that now adorned Kuroko's arm stumps. An inch and a half of close fit and hard metal, followed by swirling, criss-crossing vortex of metal that seemed to adhere to her skin.

"YA THINK!?" Kuroko gave a rather rare angry outburst at the elder man, which was matched in exact unison with Mikoto who had risen from her chair in the examination room. The doctor leveled them both with a calm stare and did not respond verbally, and after several long seconds of silence, both girls shrunk back into their seats, mollified by the stern, grandfatherly stare.

The four girls had all come to the hospital immediately after the entire incident, with Maika shooing them off, assuring them that the house would be in proper order when they returned.

Now, all four were mostly panicked because nothing made sense, and stability was something that were being consistently deprived of.

"Hm." The doctor stood up and moved over to one of his instruments and placed it against one of the caps. Mikoto immediately recognized it as an ammeter, or one of its variants, a tool used to measure electrical currents.

"Misaka-san, were you utilizing your therapy method you told me about?" He asked, not meeting her eyes. Misaka shifted a bit, feeling like a kid called into the principal's office.

"Y-yes…" She said quietly.

"I see. Shirai-san is very fortunate." He said, looking to Misaka, prompting a confused look from her. The man moved to her and showed her the meter, and the color drained from her face. Kuroko was lucky she hadn't exploded. Kuroko was lucky she wasn't exploding right now.

"I have no idea what that metal is, but that's just what's left over. Watch." He placed the meter on her cap again, showing the meter to the four of them, the meter rapidly descending in measurement.

"Where… Where is all that electricity going?" Uiharu asked softly.

"Excellent question. I have no idea." The doctor answered honestly. He put the meter away as he walked away from them, Kuroko shifting a bit on the patient table, before asking the pressing question.

"Doctor… do I have my AIM field back? Am I an Esp-"

"No, Shirai-san." He said with a sigh. Kuroko visibly deflated. "You do not have an AIM field. Though I have no idea what that means anymore. I have no idea where that metal came from, I have no idea what either of you just endured, and I have no idea what any of this means."

He turned to face them. "I do know that I will find out." He said with a certain level of certainty. "Powers sometimes react when users go through extreme emotional or psychological changes or experiences. Did either of you experience something like that?"

There was a deafening, burning pause. It was burning because Kuroko and Mikoto's faces both turned a distinct shade of bright, glowing pink.

"N-n-n-no." Mikoto stuttered out quickly, looking away from everyone in the room. If she were looking, she'd be met with the most disbelieving looks in the world.

"I-I'm g-gonna go get a d-drink!" She said, sitting up quickly and just short of running out of the room.

"I should probably talk to her…" Kuroko sighed out, hopping off the bed, giving the doctor a bow. "Please let me know once you've found anything. My apologies for my outburst." She said honestly, turning toward the door. Uiharu hopped up, opening the door.

"Lemme help you." She said helping her through. Saten stood quickly to follow them, and jumped in surprise as the door suddenly slammed in her face by Uiharu, finding herself alone in the room with the doctor.

"Saten-san. I actually wanted to talk to you about those appointments you have been missing."

Damn.

"...Well played, Uiharu…"

* * *

"Oh my god…" Mikoto whisper to herself, holding a cold soda to her burning face as she looked out a window. The only thing that made her embarrassment worse, was the Misaka Network slipping itself open as it felt her strong emotions, and doing what sisters do best, and TEASING HER. THROUGH HER OWN MEMORIES. BY GIVING ANALYSIS ON HER KISSING TECHNIQUE. SCIENTIFICALLY. RIGHT. NOW.

"You guys suck…" Mikoto whined out pitifully as she buried her face into the cold soda more.

"Onee-sama."

Misaka twisted around quickly, finding that the out-of-ways hospital lounge she had hid herself in had been found by Kuroko and Uiharu, Uiharu giving her a smile before turning around and leaving them alone. Kuroko had her practically trapped against the corner window and pillar Misaka had been wallowing in embarrassment in.

"K-Kuroko, uh…" She wasn't sure what to really say, fiddling with the tab on the soda can. "S-so, maybe there's a chance your powers mi-" She began to say, grabbing at a topic that seemed neutral enough, but was quickly smacked down.

"You know that's not what we need to talk about." Kuroko said softly, taking a step forward so that they were firmly in each others personal space. Mikoto held the soda can against her chest like a shield, fidgeting with it.

"R-right." Mikoto said softly, fidgeting all the more. Kuroko stared up at her, before smiling softly.

"It doesn't have to be complicated, Onee-sama. I love you. I kissed you. You kissed me." She said, still smiling, bouncing on her heels a little, just a bit like schoolgirl with a crush.

"Do you love me?" Kuroko asked, with just a hint of fear in her voice as she looked up at Mikoto once more, meeting her eyes. "How I feel won't change no matter how you answer. I will accept whatever your feelings are." Kuroko said softly. There was a… maturity in Kuroko that humbled Mikoto as someone who was her senior.

Mikoto had spent a many-nights long violent tantrum destroying buildings and ripping apart that which disgusted her over a year ago. She wasn't sure if she'd really grown out of the childishness of that act. Kuroko had lost so much because of it all… And part of Mikoto wondered if she'd gained something Mikoto hadn't been giving her credit for. Did she really deserve to lov-

Mikoto dropped the empty can onto the ground with a tink as her eyes went wide. Kuroko tilted her head at Mikoto in some concern. Mikoto replayed that line of reasoning in her head again as she heard the monotonous-toned teasing and cajoling of her little sisters in her head.

"Onee-sama-?"

"Yes."

Kuroko froze, blinking, Mikoto face burning as her arms went rigid at her side, shaking in neurotic nervousness. An incredibly stubborn, frustrated, and determined part of Mikoto refused to just let herself fall to tiny pieces once she'd managed to get a degree of logic, and being teased telepathically by annoying little siblings were compelling her to want to not lose.

"Y-yes wha-?" Kuroko began to clarify, but Mikoto had mental and emotional momentum and by all that was scientific and divine, she was going to keep barreling down with it without a single care for caution.

"I love you, Kuroko." She said with nearly stuttering, jittery confidence to a suddenly stunned Kuroko. The next words out of her mouth spilled out as her arms and legs shook visibly in nervousness and anxiety, tiny arcs of electricity running up and down her body as her powers expressed her emotions aptly.

"W-will you… Will you be my girlfriend?"

* * *

A/N Hm, not sure how I feel about this chapter. Tell me what you think.


	6. Chapter 6 - The Fool, Reversed

Saten stumbled out of the exam room after the doctor released her from his vice grip of guilt feeling like she'd aged a thousand years. She dragged her feet down the hall, quietly groaning to herself.

Her ears were still ringing. How could someone not raise their voice above speaking level and STILL somehow be yelling? How was that physically possible? Life was unfair. And now she had an ultimatum. Either she came up with some form of therapy within the next month or so that she and him could work together to get her on, or he'd do… something. He didn't specify. And for some reason, that terrified her more than anything.

"Frog-faced, know-it-all, do-gooder, stupid…" childish grumbling insults continued to pour from her mouth as she dragged herself through the hallways, looking for her friends so she could go home and pout. After some effort, she found Uiharu texting on her phone on a bench, looking up and smiling at Saten as she approached.

"Saten-san!" Uiharu hopped up and approached her, Saten turning her head away and huffing.

"No. Not talking to you. You slammed a door in my face." Saten crossed her arms with a huff, refusing to look at her. After a moment of silence, she dared to glance at Uiharu, the girl now a firm four inches shorter than her, looking like she was about to burst into tears.

"I'm sorrrrrrry!" Saten quickly crumbled, hugging Uiharu tightly and lifting her off the ground, Uiharu making a choking sound as the air was squeezed from her lungs.

"S-Saten-S-San. C-can't b-breathe…"

Saten put her back down, sighing. She couldn't stay mad at Uiharu. Saten was the one who had agreed to get help. Uiharu was just- meanly- helping.

"Where's Shirai and Misaka?" Saten asked, Uiharu pointing down the hall. Saten was curious, and admittedly, Uiharu was too. The pair walked down the hall toward the lounge where the pair had gone for some privacy, both peeking around the corner.

"A-are they…!?" Saten gasped.

"Oh my!" Uiharu covered her mouth.

Both their faces turned a bright, bright shade of crimson.

* * *

Some time earlier…

That shocked and stunned moment where Kuroko didn't respond, for Mikoto, WAS SO FUCKING AWKWARD. She just stood there, wishing she could be stiff as a board, but her limbs shaking so hard in anxiety that it painfully reminded her that in her rush to get to the hospital that she had forgotten to grab her forearm crutch and she really, really remembered why she needed it. The pillar would serve as a good substitute but she was too stubborn to allow herself to look weak when she needed to not show weakness because WOULD KUROKO RESPOND PLEASE.

Kuroko's expression went from shock at the sudden question, to a blushing red-faced giggle. Mikoto felt embarrassment flood her. Was Kuroko laughing at her?!

"O-oh, Onee-sama… You're so childish and awkward sometimes. Like a elementary schooler asking their crush if they like them." She giggled out, wiping away a tear from her eye with her shoulder as best she could, which were followed by a couple other tears that Mikoto quickly picked up on were not from laughter. Mikoto did her best imitation of a goldfish as she continued her brick-red blush of embarrassment, quickly cut off from any further aquatic imitations as Kuroko lunged at her and pressed their lips together.

Mikoto let out a squeak of surprise as she fell back into the pillar, feeling Kuroko trying her best to hold on to Mikoto. Kuroko let out a cry of protest as she slid off of her- it was very difficult to wrap her arms around Mikoto's neck without said arms. Mikoto caught her by her lower back, pulling her to her chest out of reflex, and found herself standing there blinking.

"U-um…" Mikoto felt awkward again. Kuroko was smiling at her with such an affectionate expression, one of pure honest love, that Mikoto truly felt naked under her eyes.

The Misaka Network suspected that Mikoto was likely into that sort of thing.

Shoving the intrusive hive mind of younger sisters- that felt the need to invade her private moment- aside, Mikoto looked into Kuroko's eyes once again, biting her lip a bit.

"S-so, um… is… is that a yes?" She asked in a mumble.

"Oh, Onee-sama…" Kuroko sighed out. "Yes." And without another word, got on her tiptoes, already standing on top of Mikoto's feet, closing the distance once more between them.

* * *

The old adage of "time flies when you're having fun" is often quite true, and it was quite likely that the pair currently making out in the corner would likely melt in a puddle of humiliation if they knew just how true it was.

Saten and Uiharu couldn't help but stare with their mouths over their hands, like staring at a car crash, before Uiharu began to slowly inhale, the preamble to a sneeze.

"Don't." Saten silently mouthed to her.

More inhaling.

"DON'T." Saten mouthed more enthusiastically.

Alas, it was not to be. Uiharu let out a very audible, if cute, sneeze that echoed through the room, prompting the two teenagers in the corner locking lips to nearly leap out of their skins. Kuroko twisted her head in place, Mikoto looking over the top of her partner's head at their two friends who were quite clearly staring at them.

Oh the awkwardness. It was palpable.

"OH LOOK AT THE TIME! MAIKA MUST HAVE DINNER ALMOST READY I'LL GO GET US A RIDE" And with that Saten was gone, abandoning a betrayed Uiharu to deal with the awkwardness by herself. Uiharu was as red in the face as those two in the corner, perhaps more so, and her only response was to let out a rapid string of words that seemed to be a bizarre alien mixture of excusing herself, apologizing, geometry, computers, and for some reason, gerbils.

Then she ran away.

Kuroko could only stare and bewilderment. Slowly, she found herself descending downward to the floor, and realized it was because Mikoto was sliding down the pillar to the ground.

"Nooo…" Mikoto whined out in unfathomable embarrassment as she sunk to the ground and pulled Kuroko to her so Kuroko's head was resting on top of Mikoto's, Mikoto's face buried in Kuroko's torso as she tried to hide her red face. Kuroko wasn't sure quite what to do. Sometimes, Mikoto's ego was just a bit fragile. Sometimes though, it could use a little toughening up.

Kuroko gasped excitedly above Mikoto where Mikoto was holding her firmly. "I can shower you with affection now, and everyone gets to know!" She cried out, Mikoto whining and protesting more as Kuroko giggled maniacally above her, kissing the top of Mikoto's head.

"...Kuroko."

"Yes, Onee-sama?" She purred mischievously.

"...I forgot my crutch. I can't stand up off the floor."

"...Oh."

* * *

The pitiful naked individual currently being forced to clean their own blood off the floor from one of their recent torture sessions winced in terror as they heard the screams of agony in the adjacent room from their tormenter.

"You know, Flower-chan, this would be much easier if you'd let me sedate you." The elderly man known as Kihara Gensei said with a soft grandfatherly smile as he continued to perform his work inside of Indigo's eye socket. Kihari Gensei was dressed in bland dress clothes and a lab coat, a large liver spot on the left side of his forehead. The man in question gripped at the armrests of the chair he was in as he growled and frothed at the pain of the procedure, undergoing it without a hint of anesthetic.

"HAH!" He balked at the man. "As if I would… Let you put me under you fucking psychopath!" He growled as a line of foam dripped down his chin, squeezing tighter down on his armrest. Gensei simply smiled softly at that, continuing his work as he carefully laid more circuitry inside of the damaged socket, moving about flesh and veins with carefully precise tools.

"So testy today, Flower-chan. Is it that little girl that bothers you so much?" He asked as he worked without a hint of fear of the violent and unstable sociopath. Every time Gensei used his nickname for his patient, the man seethed in murderous rage, but did nothing.

"Stop. Calling me that." He hissed at the man, who did not immediately reply, but simply resumed his work silently for a time with an infuriating calm smile on his face as he joined some more nerves together, each one sending agony through the man.

Gensei stepped away from the chair, letting Indigo pant and seethe in hatred and rage. The scientist picked up a small sphere in his surgically gloved hands, holding it up and looking at it.

"What if I told you that I know where Kuroko-chan is?" He asked, turning and smiling at Indigo, who paused in his seething to turn to Gensei. Gensei approached him, leaning down and placing the sphere against the empty, though prepared, socket, firmly pressing it in as it was inserted with a painful sounding cracking sound as the bones were forced to break apart, realign, and fuse back together through the devices implanted inside.

"I'd ask what the cost is…" Indigo growled out through the pain.

Gensei gave him a broad, grandfatherly smile somehow devoid of warmth as Indigo forced himself off of the table, one hand covering the prosthetic eye.

"You've learned so well. It's always a pleasure to teach you, Flower-chan." The old man praised Indigo with a soft chuckle, patting the younger counterparts cheek.

* * *

After what had to be Academy City's most astoundingly awkward car ride, the girls were happy to get home and go their separate ways if only just to collapse and rest after an exhausting day. The sun had long since gone down, and Maika had taken the time to track down each girl to get them their dinner where ever they had chosen to hide themselves. They had the fortune of quiet days coming and going for some time, giving them the appropriate chance to rest, relax, and process… something all the girls desperately needed. Time did indeed march on…

* * *

Saten had found herself in the Western-Style sitting room off appropriately west side of the house. Lounging on a couch with a laptop, pouring over websites both to satisfy her urban legend craving and to dig up ideas on that therapy method that she might be able to propose to the doctor. She had less than three days to propose something, and NO, she HAD NOT been procrastinating. The month had just decided to go by extra fast was all.

"Ugh…" She groaned out, flipping through various pages, scowling a bit, flicking through page after page of websites, a mixture of boredom and frazzled stress washed over her. She had to admit, she was mildly envious of Mikoto and Kuroko. She felt kind of bad for feeling envious of them, but did genuinely hope that whatever happened worked out. Uiharu and her been betting on them becoming a thing for well over a year. Well… for that long because of unfortunate circumstances but…

Saten sighed. She was letting herself get depressed again. That was just stupid. And pointless. She went back to her web browsing, pausing as something caught her eye, leaning forward and reading the page in front of her.

"Indian Poker…" She muttered, her eyes scanning over the page. "Combine these items and you can make cards that can transmit and share dreams and skills to…" she muttered quietly, her eyes lighting up as she continued to read. Her focus was cut off as she heard nothing short of a delighted giggle.

Saten looked up sharply, glancing around for the source of that giggle, finding it nowhere in the room. She quietly put her laptop and slid off of the couch, sneaking from the room as she went hunting, the giggle coming again from the Eastern-style sitting room in the eastern side of the house where she was fairly certain…

She peeked around the corner just barely and saw Uiharu lying part way under the Kotatsu, her laptop surprisingly closed, her phone to her ear and a pillow under her head as she softly giggled and blushed against the phone. Saten's curiosity was BEYOND piqued. What could make Uiharu act in such a way?

Just as Saten was going to lean in to listen for more, she felt a painful tug on her ear as she was forcibly removed from the conversation.

"It is rude to eavesdrop, Saten." Maika said softly as she pulled Saten away from her prey, devastating the poor troublemaking girl.

"No faaaaiiiirrr!" She whined even as she heard a squeak of surprise and alarm from the other room as Uiharu overheard her.

* * *

Uiharu quickly stuffed her phone into her pocket with a big flush of embarrassment. That was SO CLOSE! Saten was always so nosy! Her phone calls were none of Saten's business! She huffed a bit as she sat up and opened her laptop, puffing her cheeks out.

Still… It was nice to get a bit of a sneak peek from her super secret source about school getting back in session sometime in the near future. While it had been nice to recover and heal, and the irregular schooling and supplementary and online courses had been handy for that, it would be nice to get back into more typical studies. She worried that Mikoto and Kuroko would struggle getting back into things after their coma's but… well, they were both students of Tokiwadai, and high level Espers, which required intense calculations. They were both essentially geniuses in their own rights, even if they never went out of their way to brag about it.

Uiharu opened up a file that she had been secretly working on. If there was one thing that she had taken on after everything that had happened… it was a responsibility for her friends safety. Mikoto, Kuroko, Saten, the one thing all of them had in common, was this sense of noble self-sacrifice for others. And while that was a commendable and admirable trait, something she respected…

Uiharu also wanted to keep her friends. And maybe that was selfish… but as SHE said… it's OK to be a little selfish sometimes.

In the file was a series of documents and files on her friends. A lot of different medical and security files, a lot of which had been illicitly acquired through hacking expertise, including the surveillance data on this house. She knew this entire house HAD been bugged both audio and visual when she'd first arrived, but that had almost instantaneously ended within roughly five minutes of Mikoto entering the building. It didn't surprise her terribly that Mikoto didn't like being watched and had entirely fried every bug in the house with a thought. As injured and recovering as Mikoto was, her powers hadn't diminished at all.

Uiharu looked over her shoulder for a moment before back to her laptop, scanning over the medical documents she had. Mikoto seemed like she was recovering OK… no organ rejection. Which made sense, since her donors were her near-exact clones. That was good.

Mikoto was keeping up with her physical therapy at home fairly well, Uiharu had watched her doing that still with Saten, and that was good, building up muscle strength. Over the last month as well, she'd seen her and Kuroko growing much closer. Close enough that it was making Uiharu blush a lot…

Moving on to other topics!

Kuroko had suffered a lot less physical atrophy. Mostly because the machines used to stimulate muscles in coma patients that used electrical discharges were a lot less inclined to exploding violently when hooked up to Kuroko as opposed to when they were attached to Mikoto. The doctor was still working on how to get Kuroko prosthetic arms and studying the strange metal that had appeared out of nowhere on her arms. They'd managed to chip a few flakes off of it(by humorously helping Kuroko knock her stumps together a few times. Her reaction as the metals clinked together was admittedly quite funny.)

She hadn't managed to hack in to the hospitals servers and learn how that was progressing, but maybe she'd do that sometime tomorrow night…

She sighed and rubbed her face a bit. She stood up and closed her laptop. Goalkeeper. Guardian Deity. She remembered when she used to feel excessively proud, deep in a secret part of her heart, of these nicknames when she defended parts of Judgements computer systems from rogue hackers. Now she didn't feel so much pride as she felt staunch obligation.

Her friends were in so much pain. Her friends that had become so close to her that she could barely imagine living without them. Friends felt like it was underselling it. They were… precious. And she needed to protect them as much as they protected her. She didn't have the luxury of pretending Academy City was as pretty and shining as she used to think it was.

Uiharu sighed once again and walked over to a window and looked outside of it up at the skyline where the shining and everbright Windowless Building shined above all else. Uiharu frowned a little at it. That building which previously awed her now filled her mouth with a taste of bitterness.

She blinked as she saw something silhouetted in the light of the skylights, narrowing her eyes a bit as she placed her hand on the window. Thunder rumbled the window a bit as rain began to fall, drops falling down the window.

In the distance, a figure stood up on a tall building. She couldn't make the figure out, he was very, very far away, she could barely make out his limbs. Uiharu felt… comforted.

And she wished on earth she knew why.

* * *

Stretching a bit, the young man in a sweater vest ran a hand through his brown hair as he grabbed his unopened can of soda off the skyscraper ledge, sliding one hand into his pocket as he popped the pop tab with one finger in his other hand, grinning a good natured smile as he glanced down at the cozy looking house, his eyes spotting a young girl looking out a window who accurately fit the description a good friend of his described as "adorkable". Those little flowers in her hair really sold it, she must have arranged them herself. Were those marigolds? Probably not. He had no idea how to classify flowers.

He took a healthy swig of his soda. "Ah!" He dropped his arm down to his side in a flourishing gesture as rain began to fall from the sky, striking his clothing, seeming to sizzle and steam as it did so.

"...Watermelon soda is the best!"


	7. Chapter 7 - The Hermit, Upright

"No, Kuroko."

"B-but Onee-samaaaa!" Kuroko whined loudly pressing her face into Mikoto's lap, rubbing her face into the Railgun's skirt. While about a month ago, this would have prompted far more embarrassment, and it still got some in front of others, Mikoto was building up a resistance to it. The pair were in Mikoto's bed, with Mikoto leaning up against her headboard cross-legged with Kuroko sprawled out along the length of the bed, her face firmly buried in the aforementioned lap.

"NO." She said firmly again.

"But whyyyy?!"

"Because a body pillow of me is CREEPY! AND YOU KNOW IT!"

Kuroko turned her head to grin up at Mikoto with a lecherous look on her face that told Mikoto that she knew full well that it was creepy and disturbing. Mikoto was starting to suspect that these outbursts of her previous behavior, which she originally thought might disappear once they had started dating, was Kuroko's new form of teasing her. Mikoto huffed and blushed as she looked away.

"M-Mikoto…" She mumbled under her breath. Kuroko twisted in Mikoto's lap so the back of her head was resting there so she could stare up at her.

"Hm?" She blinked curiously. "What was that?"

"I said… Mikoto." She said again, looking away from her.

"That is indeed your name, Onee-sama." Kuroko said, smiling up at her with such blatant faux-ignorance that it made Mikoto want to shock her right then and there. Her face burned red and her cheeks puffed out in frustration. Kuroko was growing increasingly good at teasing her, and it was such a new behavior for the normally deferent Kuroko that Mikoto had no idea how to deal with it.

Mikoto pouted a bit, shifting around as Kuroko stared up at her expectantly. "I want you to call me... Mikoto. Call me by my name." She said, doing her best not to mumble, glancing away occasionally, struggling to meet Kuroko's eyes in embarrassment.

"Mikoto." Kuroko smiled up at her warmly, wiggling her nose a bit. "I think I can do that." She said softly, her expression matching her voice, her eyes closing.

"Kuroko?" Mikoto tilted her head as the girl closed her eyes, looking a bit curious, a touch concerned.

"Just basking in the moment." She said quietly, a smile still lounging on her lips. She did indeed look the picture of happiness, despite her physical disability. "I feel like at any moment I might wake up from a dream."

Mikoto shifted slightly before leaning down and lightly kissing Kuroko on the lips before quickly leaning back up and looking away, Kuroko opening her eyes and looking at her. "Still here, s-see? No charming prince waking you up or a-anything…" Mikoto said in an attempt to be teasing, but really only succeeding in being completely adorable.

"YOU'RE SO CUTE!" Kuroko nearly dove out of her lap on to an alarmed Mikoto.

Downstairs, their roommates could only wonder in teenage hormonal curiosity what in the world was happening up in Mikoto's room based on the noises they were hearing.

* * *

There was a pleasant piano soundtrack being played in the kitchen at the moment as Maika worked, and Uiharu happily had a pair of wireless earbuds in as she typed away at her laptop in her own favorite spot at the kotatsu table(which had quickly become HER spot). Saten had excused herself to run some errands out of the house.

This gave Uiharu the perfect opportunity! She set up her little camera robot on the stairs in case either Mikoto or Kuroko came downstairs, had her earbuds in so she could soak in blissful ignorance and not hear whatever was going on upstairs(she did not want to know whatever was going on in Mikoto's room. Kuroko and Mikoto were ladies. They would not be doing anything they thought was inappropriate regardless.)

Time to update her files! Interlacing her fingers and giving them a crack she began to type away, humming a little. She occasionally glanced at a small window in the top left corner of her screen. It had a program that was following Saten through Academy City's security cameras. Just to make sure she wasn't getting into any trouble. Thankfully, she'd long since gotten past the guilt of feeling like a stalker.

"Let's see… Guess I'll starts with me."

* * *

Name: Uiharu Kazari

Age: 14

Height: 5'3"

Weight: 108lbs

Measurements: …

* * *

"...Let's just skip those…" Uiharu said with deep sadness and envy in her voice, hanging her head.

* * *

Esper Power:Thermal Hand

The ability to keep the temperature of a touched subject at one point while contact is maintained.

Level: 1

* * *

Uiharu smiled as she continued to type away, though the rest of the entry just linked to her personal journal. No point and retyping the last years events.

She stretched a little before moving on.

"Guess I'll do Saten next."

* * *

Name: Saten Ruiko

Age: 14

Height: 5'8"(Saten is getting SO TALL! I wonder if she's gonna break 6'?)

Weight: 146bs(I had to sneak over her shoulder to get a peak at her scale for this. She swears it's her bust, but honestly, I've seen how much she's been working out, I think it's actually muscle… I wonder if it's a way of dealing with stress.)

Measurements: ...Bigger than mine…

Esper Power: Saten showed signs of the Aero Hand ability back during the Level Upper Incident, but since then has not shown any power. It is unclear if that is her true power, or if that power was artificial. She has not developed since.

Level: 0

Notes:

Saten has been undergoing severe depression since Treefall after she defended me from my assault during the incident. She avoided all attempts at therapy, and I was very lax at my attempts to get her to address those problems. I've redoubled my efforts on that matter, and it seems like forcing her into a confrontation with the doctor helped with that. I'm gonna check on that in a day or two and make sure she doesn't try to skirt away. Last thing I want to see is her getting self-destructive…

I guess the small consolation, if you can call it that, is that I haven't heard even a single insecurity about her lack of an Esper power. It's like it vanished from her mind. Either that, or it's just eating away at her. I worry for her so much… I really do.

* * *

Uiharu sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. She had a lot more to do. Couldn't let herself get worked up and fret. Fretting did no good for anyone. Stretching, she went back to her work.

* * *

Name: Misaka Mikoto

Age: 15

Height 5'6"

Weight: 119lbs(Misaka is still very underweight. Her appetite is not that great, and I think it's because of how much she struggles to work up an appetite due to her atrophied muscles. She's working up her muscle mass very hard though. She was so malnourished after she woke up, it was terrible, her rib cage exposed and everything. The hospital had such a struggle caring for her, her powers were running haywire most of the time. People were getting injured just trying to treat her. Everyone decided it was better not to tell her… I'll elaborate more on this below, I'm getting off track.)

Measurements: BIGGER THAN MINE AND SATEN'S. NOT. FAIR. IT'S ONLY BEEN A BIT OVER A YEAR HOW HAS SHE GROWN THAT MUCH?! Oh wait, I've seen her mother. That makes so much more sense now...

Esper Power: Railgun - SO COOL

Level: 5 - Misaka's power has not diminished whatsoever. Honestly, I think her power might have even increased. Based on medical records I 'acquired', her AIM field and passive electromagnetic field have grown in activity, and shown significant strength beyond what she had before. It's possible Misaka doesn't know her powers have grown, but based on information that I've been digging up on, and what my SUPER SECRET SOURCE gave me… Misaka went and fought against Academy City's Rank 1 Level 5 Esper… And won. At the cost of her injuries… and Treefall. Though a bit more complicated than that. I'm going to have to talk to her about it at some point, but just not now… I don't really know how to bring a lot of this up, and everyone is in such a fragile mental state, and in so much pain.

Notes:

Misaka's physical condition is pretty severe, even if she tries her best to pretend it's not. Her mental condition is just as bad. The guilt constantly eats at her, intense depression, and lack of self-care. Keeping an eye on someone intimately aware of all electronic surveillance has been profoundly difficult, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried that Misaka was suicidal at times… In the end, I resorted to a more unorthodox method of keeping an eye on her. With a little help, I got a hold of three of Misaka's sisters. After explaining to her my concerns to them, Misaka-19090, Misaka-10032, and Misaka-10046, and my concerns that Mikoto(called such from this point forward for clarity) might be suffering from severe, potentially suicidal, depression due to what happened to the city, her sisters, her friends, and Kuroko, that she needed help keeping an eye on her, the sisters expressed to me that they would be happy to assist.

They informed me that my estimations were not far off the mark, and that they had intervened on several occasions already on what they had deemed to be "dangerously abnormal negative fluctuations" in Mikoto's emotions. Mikoto is made of strong resolve and determination, but Mikoto is also a human like anyone else… and it would be abnormal for her to not be traumatized after what she has gone through. I managed to get more details about what else Mikoto has gone through, and it has been horrific, to put it mildly.

I considered that more direct methods might be used to help Mikoto, out of deep concern, but I was informed that such methods were completely impossible for Mikoto.

I am… still very concerned. Mikoto seems much happier lately, especially after getting together with Kuroko. She DOES seem to be improving… I just worry that she's hiding her pain. I'll need to contact the Misaka Sisters, get an update.

* * *

Uiharu stretched and yawned a little, checking the camera both for the stairs and on Saten. Kuroko and Mikoto were actually going down the stairs, Mikoto distracted by Kuroko as they were heading to the baths, so it didn't seem like they noticed the robot thankfully.

Saten looked like she was talking with someone on the street. It seemed… friendly enough. Some blonde girl with long hair in a black beret. It made Uiharu smiled that Saten still was maintaining friendships outside of this house. She knew that it was hard to be social when you were depressed.

She turned to return to her work.

* * *

Name: Shirai Kuroko

Age: 14

Height: 5'2"

Weight: 86lbs(This was her weight BEFORE the weird metal appeared on her stumps. She obviously had a kind of low weight because she's lacking certain body mass.)

Measurements: LESS THAN ME! HAH!

Esper Power: Kind of a question right now… Before it was Teleport, but while the doctor suspected she had lost it, now she has no AIM field but he is uncertain? I have no idea what's going on, and the best doctor in all of Academy City seems equally at a loss. I need to hack into the hospital server and see if he has made any headway. The metal HAS to be related.

Level: Same as above.

Notes:

Kuroko has been a very difficult nut to crack. I thought she would be in as difficult a state as Mikoto, but I feel like I have repeatedly proven wrong. When she lost her powers, and was told she was no longer an Esper, both times I thought it would be a blow that would knock her down even deeper into depression. But…

She just hasn't. Every time life has hit her low, in some of the most unfair ways possible, it feels like she's just gotten back up stronger than ever. I talked to one of Misaka's sisters about it… one of them has become a friend. Misaka-19090. She forwarded me an internet meme that, while very, very crude and unlady-like, did make me laugh and felt very apt that I include here for posterity, if not for appropriateness. It feels like everytime Kuroko is smacked down to the ground her reaction is thus:

"She gets back up, wipes the blood off her face, looks life in the face and tells it 'You hit like a bitch'."

I'm not sure if that is ENTIRELY accurate, but it did make me smile. Kuroko does seem to take every obstacle in stride… though she now takes EVERY OPPORTUNITY to kiss Misaka. EVERY. ONE OF THEM. I feel like Misaka's face is going to explode from the redness. Maika has started smacking her on the head for trying to do it at the dinner table. Honestly, she might learn to fly with how much she's floating around out of joy.

Honestly, I'm happy for them both, and I really hope it genuinely develops into something healthy and happy.

* * *

Uiharu smiled and stood up stretching, checking her cameras again, letting her robot camera watch the bathroom door to give her friends privacy, and watching Saten and her friend walking toward the house' direction.

She sat back down and her smile fell off her lips. One last file she needed to work on. One she did not enjoy. One that filled her with bitterness and… an emotion that twisted inside of her soul, a soul that many called innocent. A terrible emotion. Hate.

* * *

Name: Unknown.

Alias: Indigo

Age: Late 30's.

Height: 6'2"-6'5"

Weight: Unknown, likely 180-230lbs

Status: Unknown, likely Alive- last known location had no body when searched by Anti-Skill.

Esper Power: While it is unconfirmed precisely what he is, he shows every sign of being an Esper of significant power. He showed the ability to warp the fabric of space, altering how matter flowed and how locations existed within causality, including how teleportation functioned within a range of at least 87.82 meters. Somehow, this power may also relate to a power of premonition, or precognition. Indigo expressed an arrogant mocking of Kuroko during their confrontation that his powers may be related, and if he is not lying, this may imply a misunderstanding on our part of how his powers function. It is likely that I am looking at this from the wrong angle. Much like how it would be inappropriate to look at Misaka's powers as the power over controlling iron, as opposed to the power of controlling electromagnetism, I believe that I need to find the proper angle to look at this.

Level: Due to the unusual nature of his powers and the lack of understanding, I can't grasp the true level of his power, or cannot grasp what I am looking at. Nor grasp if all of it is truly HIS power, it is possible he is using some form of parasitic technology to steal powers from others, or artificially replicate other esper's powers.

Notes:

I do not understand Indigo's motivations. I just know that this man orchestrated Treefall. Everything I looked over through the hundreds of hours of recordings and thousands of pages of recovered files shows that he had a hand in the Level 6 Shift Project, the Artillery Shell Misaka used, the attack on Kuroko, the attack on me, the poisoning on Misaka… all of it. And he seemed unnaturally relaxed when he attempted to murder Kuroko.

He knew what was going to happen, which adds credence to the notion of precognition. However, toward the end, he seemed to get things wrong… Things Kuroko and Saten and I did. I don't understand why quite yet. What is it we did that sent his plans awry, what did we do that interfered with such precise precognitive powers?

If this is the case, if we were the spanner in his works, then remove us from his supposed plan… Kuroko would have never saved the city. And Mikoto would have… and would have died. Was that his plan? To kill her? It seems like such an elaborate murder attempt… I feel like I'm missing something. And if he's still alive… was he the one who attacked the hospital? Does he know where we are? That is beyond troubling, but it would explain the security… but who is pushing all this security on us- Oh wait, no, I know where the security is coming from. Stupid question. But still...

Is he just some insane serial killer, some mass murderer, wanting to sow chaos?

No… No, I'm missing something… But what?

* * *

"I'm home!"

Uiharu heart nearly leaped out of her throat, both from the call and because she half thought she might have cracked the screen on her laptop with how hard she slammed it shut. A quick peek showed it was just fine. It was a tough thing.

Uiharu quickly leaped from her seat after closing the laptop again, moving to the front door.

"Welcome home- Oh!" She looked surprised as she saw Saten had brought a guest along. It was the blonde-haired beret girl she'd seen.

"I brought a friend!" Saten said cheerfully, grinning happily while carrying a bag of groceries.

"I don't believe we've met. I am Uiharu Kazari!" Uiharu bowed politely to the new arrival, who gave a wave in response, seemingly unfamiliar or uncaring of Japanese customs of greetings. She was dressed in a black blouse and checkerboard skirt with beige stockings.

"HEY!" She said cheerfully with a big grin. "Thanks for inviting me to dinner!"

"My name's Frenda Seivelun~"

* * *

A/N hahaha...HAHAHA AHAHAHAHAH!


	8. Chapter 8 - Temperance, Upright

The water in the bathtub shifted slightly as Kuroko let out a pleased sighed, enjoying the hot liquid against her skin as she pressed her cheek against Mikoto's upper chest. She wasn't sure whether Mikoto was blushing or not, the steaming contents of the bath was making them both flushed.

"Sounds like Saten brought a friend home…" Kuroko said softly as she overheard loud conversation from the foyer not far from the bath doors, her eyelids a bit heavy from the relaxation the water brought on.

"Mhmm…" Mikoto hummed out quietly, her eyes closed, Kuroko noticed. It had taken a little convincing, but this level of closeness in the baths, which Kuroko had pointed out wasn't that different from things they'd done while bathing before they were dating, was something she'd achieved a bit last week.

"Mhmm… We won't… be disturbed..." Kuroko purred out. A lecherous smile began to grow across her lips as she leaned up and kissed Mikoto. Mikoto startled her eyes open, looking down at Kuroko with some surprise. Kuroko grinned at her, not saying another word as she started to trace kisses down her cheek. She moved down to Mikoto's neck, eliciting delightful gasps from her.

"K-Kuroko…" She heard Mikoto gasps out of her even as she continued further downward, wiggling her rear a little to get the movement she needed to descend. Accomplishing such things without arms was difficult. As Kuroko moved down toward Mikoto's shoulder and approached her clavicle, starting to go lower…

"Kuroko!" She felt Mikoto's hands grab her shoulders suddenly, and firmly, prompting Kuroko to snap out of her slightly(extremely) lustful and hormonally driven trance.

"Mrr?" She blinked up at Mikoto who looked as red as could be. Pressed as close as they were, Kuroko could feel Mikoto's heartbeat, pounding intensely in her chest.

"K-Kuroko, I'm s-sorry, b-but… I'm not… I'm not ready for… for that." she said, looking to the side with a mixture of embarrassment and slight guilt. Kuroko was beyond ready, but it had only been a bit over four weeks, and Mikoto was not the type of girl to rush into things that quickly. The look away from Kuroko caused Mikoto to miss the slight pang of guilt on Kuroko's face that she shook off quickly.

"I… I apologize, Mikoto…" Kuroko said quietly, wincing as she moved back up to press herself against Mikoto's neck, burying her face there. She did, honestly, feel guilty. Yes, they'd kissed quite a bit, probably a bit more than Mikoto had initially wanted to allow, which she had to admit now that Mikoto had put her foot down. She had been quietly denying that a little. Which she felt really, really bad about in retrospect.

She was just so happy, overjoyed really, since Mikoto asked her to start dating, she felt like her heart might explode. She secretly never thought that Mikoto might actually be the one to ask her, especially so directly.

Mikoto shifted under her a little bit. Kuroko couldn't see it, but Mikoto was wincing a little as she let Kuroko's arms go and hugged her again. It was true that it had taken some convincing from Kuroko for them to bathe together… well, they'd bathed together before as friends and roommates, Academy City did have cultural roots in Japan after all, but bathing together as a couple was… different. It felt different at least. Far more intimate.

"Kuroko." Mikoto called softly to her, prompting the smaller girl to look up at her, allowing Mikoto to pull her up to meet her for an affectionate, and far less embarrassed kiss. She let it linger for awhile, a slight smile growing on her lips as it the kiss grew and Kuroko's body relaxed and let out a sighing happy sound. As they pulled from each other, Mikoto gave her a warm smile.

"... I love you…" She said in a whisper, putting all of her willpower in ensuring she did not stutter. She wanted it to sound as sincere as it felt in her heart. Kuroko returned the smile as she pressed her face into Mikoto's neck once more and nuzzled it with intense enthusiasm as well as a giggling happy, almost chirping, series of sounds. Mikoto was embarrassed on Kuroko's behalf for the display.

Giggling a bit at Kuroko's joy, Mikoto turned and pressed the button on a little intercom that was installed on the inside of the flat rim of the large bathtub.

"Hey Maika-chan? There's a couple of unopened boxes underneath my bed, could you bring those to the baths for me?"

* * *

Maika was humming as she worked in the kitchen, cooking up a very tasty looking series of dishes from a number of canned mackerels that Saten and her friend, Frenda, had brought home. She wasn't sure what precisely the appeal of canned mackerels was, but the pair seemed unusually passionate about it. And any maid worth her salt could forge a delicious cooked meal from any ingredients!

A beeping broke her out of thought process. She pulled a sleeve back to look at her wrist, where a tiny little watch with a screen rested. Tapping it, a little audio picture icon appeared.

"Hey Maika-chan? There's a couple of unopened boxes underneath my bed, could you bring those to the baths for me?" Came Mikoto's voice.

"Certainly, Misaka." She said with a chiper grin. Taking a moment to ensure that none of the food would suffer immediately after moving from it, she strode from the kitchen out to the sitting room where Uiharu, Saten, and their guest, Frenda, were currently sitting.

"Man, this place is niiiice!" Frenda said with huge grin as she looked around the room, distracted as Maika came out to join them. "And with a maid, too! Very classy." Maika gave her a friendly smile and curtsy as if to acknowledge this.

"I need to grab something for our bathing friends, Saten, would you make sure that the food doesn't burn?" She asked, smiling at her with a warm grin. Saten hopped up, hands on her hips.

"Sure!" And quickly scampered off to the kitchen. Maika grinned at her eagerness as she departed to go retrieve Misaka's package. Maika was rather prone to using Saten more than anyone else for assistance. Most likely due to her habit of pilfering food from the kitchen outside of Maika's meal times. Saten didn't seem to notice.

Frenda turned to Uiharu with a grin. "So, how'd you guys score such a MANSION like this as middle-school students going on high school?" She asked, loud enough for Saten to hear. Saten stuck her head out, holding a wooden spoon as she heard Frenda talking, holding the door open with her back as she listened to the question.

"Our two roommates were kind enough to invite us! Not really sure where they got the place, I think the city gave it to them. They're suuuper nice, I can't wait to introduce you guys. They're kind of famous too." Saten explained with a big honest grin on her face to Frenda before she dove back into the kitchen to check on the food. Frenda raised an eyebrow for a moment as she glanced to Uiharu who had glanced away from them toward the hallway as Saten gave her explanation, coughing loudly.

A cough that Frenda pegged as being so fake that it physically pained her. Such poor professional skills of deception were always quite insulting. She frowned a little, scowling for a moment before wiping the expression away.

"So, Uiharu!" Frenda called to her, Uiharu turning quickly to look to her with a big smile. "What's with all the security? You guys got some serious VIP's or somethin'?" She asked with a big grin, adjusting her legs to get more underneath the comfy heated blanket.

"Security? What do you mean?" Uiharu asked, trying her very best to play dumb. The notion that she thought it'd work on her was almost insulting.

"Well, you haven't noticed the parked cars all around your place?" She said casually, smiling as she leaned onto the table, resting her cheek into the palm of her hand as an elbow propped onto the tabletop.

"R-really? No, I… I hadn't noticed, really. I hang out at home a lot, kind of a computer girl, really." Uiharu said, smiling a little, rubbing the back of her head. Frenda smirked a bit, and poked at Uiharu's shoulder.

"Neeeerd. Ruiiikoooo! Uiharu is being a neeeeerd!" She teased, grinning wider, Uiharu puffing her cheeks out and blushing all the more.

"Saaaaten-saaaan! Frenda is teassssing me!"

* * *

"Really, Flower-chan, you need to learn to take better care of your test subjects, especially ones that have such long-term yield potential as this." Gensei said as he worked on the gurgling individual below him on the table as he treated their wounds.

Indigo growled something unintelligible from his office as he broke something. "THAT WHORE IS PISSING ME OFF!" He roared from his office, kicking over his desk, panting. "Fucking with her and playing her little shadow war was amusing before, but now, now-"

"Now you can't cheat; you have to actually be clever." Gensei offered as he continued his work with a soft smile. Gensei lightly twitched his head a few centimeters to the left to look in the direction of the office, finding Indigo suddenly looming over him in a flash, appearing from nothing it seemed as the air warped and distorted as space itself flexed under Indigo's personal reality. A curved knife pressed firmly against Gensei's throat, Indigo's fresh prosthetic eye glowing a sickly violet color.

"Are you TRYING to die, old man?" He said in a cold, quiet, low voice, his tone filled with malice and ice. The only thing that made Indigo more angry than the old man's sass was his unbreakable, rigid, unmoving smile.

"Come now. I used to work in the same labs that handled the likes of Accelerator and Dark Matter. Do you really think you can frighten me with violence?" He asked, turning away from Indigo to return to his work, ignoring the knife. Indigo's knife trembled with rage as he seemed to strongly debate removing the geriatric man's head from his shoulders. The level of fearlessness the man showed was both enraging, and secretly, intimidating. Deep down, Indigo always felt like there was something that Gensei knew that he didn't, even if he KNEW that wasn't the case. He KNEW that. And now… Now he didn't KNOW.

He slipped the knife back into its sheath with a hiss, storming away as Gensei resumed his work on the poor figure below them.

"I've made my offer. What do you say? Or is the fear of uncertainty still weighing on your mind for the first time?" Gensei asked with a wry grin.

Indigo… did not answer.

* * *

The pair got out of the baths, which was always an exercise of slight gymnastics. Mikoto grabbed at her forearm crutch leaned up against the wall. It was mercifully made to be able to handle water slick surfaces like the bathroom floor, and she used it to help herself get out of the tub, and then helped Kuroko get out by being her support and pulling her up so she could sit at the edge and swing around. It was for this reason that the pair preferred bathing together and not with the others- it was so freaking embarrassing to do by themselves and be watched, or to ask for help.

Maika had stopped by briefly and put the boxes inside of the small changing room that laid between the bathroom and the outside hallway that connected to the foyer.

"I have a surprise." Mikoto said as they made their way into the changing room after wrapping themselves up in towels post-drying. "No. Not THAT kind of surprise." She quickly cut off Kuroko's overly excited look. Kuroko pouted a bit. "It's not something we wear around the house in a sort of casual fashion, but I wanted to try them on before festivals started up again… I'm sure… I'm sure we'll get some level of normalcy back in our lives one day." She said as she grabbed the boxes off of the shelf Maika had placed them on.

Opening them up, she showed their contents to Kuroko, who smiled brightly. "Wow… Those are… beautiful."

"Let's get yours on, OK? Once yours is on, you can go join the others. There's something else I need to do beforehand, then I'll join you."

* * *

Maika had relieved Saten from her conscription of food-watching duties to instead helping her serve the various dishes. Everyone was politely waiting as the dishes were being set out as Kuroko walked in. The one who decided to make a comment first was Frenda with her suitably Western sensibilities. That in the form of a low wolf whistle.

"Whoaaaa!"

Kuroko was dressed in a very well-fitted kimono, her hair done up in a pair of buns where her twin-tails had typically been tied with ribbons- though her hair was now so long, she had aforementioned twin-tails descending down from each bun to roughly their former length. Kuroko, despite herself, found herself flushing at the sudden aggressive attention from the stranger.

"Wow, I feel suddenly really underdressed." Uiharu said quietly, her own face having a self-conscious blush as Saten hopped up to play proper host.

"Allow me to introduce my friends! Shirai-san, this my friend, Frenda Seivelun. Frenda, this is my friend, Shirai Kuroko." She introduced, Frenda wiggling her way out of the warm blanket to approach Kuroko.

"Heya, nice to meetcha." She offered her hand for greeting. She held it there for a moment, waving it up and down in the air as the awkwardness crawled on. She leaned over to Saten.

"She… She does know how to shake hands, right?" She whispered quietly, Saten cringing a bit. Kuroko just sighed, raising an arm, the sleeve hanging from her stump to show more distinctly what it had previously not been showing hanging at her side.

"O-Ooooh…" Frenda had the realization come over her. "H-hey, no big deal! I'm sure there's a story there, nice to meet you!" Frenda said, trying to wave off the awkwardness and play it off as being no big deal. It was endearing in a kind of crass way.

"I mean, you wouldn't believe it, one time, I almost lost my legs in a thing for work with the famous Raiii…" Her words trailed off into an inaudible, horrified squeak as the color entirely drained from her face, her expression going from nonchalant casualness to one of rigid barely restrained terror as the summoned-by-name Railgun walked into the room by her forearm crutch, suddenly meeting Frenda's eyes. Mikoto was similarly dressed in a comfortable and well-fitted kimono, though while Kuroko's was a dark blue in color, Mikoto's was more of a darker orange.

There was a pause. A brief, terrified pause where Frenda thought her heart might explode.

"Hey. Are you Saten's friend?" Mikoto asked with a soft smile, not a look of recognition in her face that Frenda could spot, save for a brief glimmer of confusion and a slight narrowing of her eyes. Did she… did she not remember her? Was she really that lucky?

"Mikoto!" Kuroko turned and looked to her, spotting the change in Mikoto. Mikoto's hair, which had been rather carelessly left to grow out and hang and largely just be brushed at best- Mikoto had not been taking great care of it in her depression- was done up in a broad braid that hung down to her lower back, tied at the end to hold it all in place was a dark red ribbon.

"Your hair is so pretty, I love it, and…!" She gasped as her face turned into one of shocked, touched, swooning love and nuzzled up against Mikoto. "My ribbon! You're using my ribbon!"

"I-I was just b-borrowing it s-since I don't usually have l-long- H-hey!" Mikoto struggled against the nuzzling attacker that was her girlfriend.

"Is… Is this normal?" Frenda asked, pointing as she looked to Saten and Uiharu who stared in on with expression that said that they had grown numb to the displays of public affection.

"Not uncommon." Saten corrected.

"Let us not give them the credit of saying it is normal." Uiharu added quietly, staring at them with some slight judgement.

"Dinner is served!" Maika announced cheerfully, cutting into the disruptive display of indecency. Mikoto had pulled Kuroko into a airtight hug around the waist to restrain her, pulling her forcibly down to sit next to her.

Frenda sat down between Uiharu and Saten, across from Kuroko and the Railgun, still feeling tense beyond belief, panicked that at any moment she might suddenly be recognized.

This… This was going to be an extremely tense dinner.


	9. Chapter 9 - Strengt- GUTS, SKYWARD

Frenda was trying her very best to remain calm and composed, and she was doing quite a good job of it she felt. It was quite a challenge in an environment where there was an individual who could turn you into a burned and charred smear on the floor with a thought.

What made it all the more unsettling was watching Misaka Mikoto hand feeding her armless girlfriend across from her as Frenda tried to just eat dinner and make small talk with everyone at the table. Railgun seemed appropriately distracted with her caretaking of Kuroko, who she now better recalled from all those propaganda PR blasts the Board had been sending out about a year ago. The teleporter that had saved the city… had she lost her arms then?

She felt something prod her foot and she practically leaped out of her skin, managing to stop herself before she slammed her knee into the underside of the table, looking around and seeing that it was Ruiko that had nudged her, giving her a concerned look, pointing down at the cell phone that Ruiko had concealed in her hand. Frenda slipped her hand into her own pocket in her skirt, pulling her phone out and looking at it, opening the chat program the pair used to talk so often.

"You OK? You've been acting really weird since Misaka walked in. Star-struck?"

Frenda read that, and had absolutely no idea how to respond to her friend. How exactly does one respond with "Oh, actually, see, I am a contract killer bomber hitwoman that tried to murder your friend, and she doesn't seem to remember that. I'm worried that at any moment she'll recall, and turn me into a charred paste on your wall because she's a goddamn walking electric weapon of mass destruction" in a way that is diplomatic and not friendship-ruining?

"Something like that."

Was the best that Frenda could come up with as she replied and slipped her phone back into her pocket, throwing Ruiko a smile before returning her attention to the dinner as a whole, her eyes spotting the Railgun whose eyes were on her once again.

* * *

They were already plenty of ways through the dishes Maika had made for them, and Mikoto had no idea fried mackerel could be so good. However… It was just...

Mikoto could not place it. But... she KNEW Frenda. She just couldn't remember where, and it was driving her nuts. What made it more pressing was that she could sense Frenda's anxiety. Where ever she knew Frenda from, Frenda did not want her to know. Really though, where could she have met someone like her that they could be in conflict? Frenda seemed harmless enough. Maybe a little crass by Eastern standards.

It was at this point that she realized that she had been staring at Frenda for a solid couple of minutes and Frenda was clearly starting to squirm under the stare. And she hadn't been feeding Kuroko, who took offense in the form of biting Mikoto's ear.

"OW!"

"NOM!"

"What are you, FOUR!?"

"I'm not four, I'm Kuroko. And hungry, and not being fed, and being ignored. Don't make googly eyes at the blonde."

Everyone at the table turned to look at Kuroko, dumbfounded and shocked, for while Kuroko was prone to acting a bit immaturely around Mikoto, this was… a little much. Mikoto managed to unlatch Kuroko's teeth from her ear and scowled at her, but her expression instantly softened as she looked at her. Mikoto put her hand to Kuroko's forehead.

"Kuroko… you're burning up. Are you feeling OK? Maybe we spent a little too long in the bath." Kuroko leaned into Mikoto's hand, her weight seeming to be almost entirely into it for balance.

"I feel fine… My arms are kinda… hot…" Kuroko said softly, smiling at Mikoto, who adjusted Kuroko to lean against her bodily, resting Kuroko's head against her shoulder.

"Where did this come from?" Mikoto asked as she reached into the sleeve of the kimono to feel at the metal and arm that was supposedly hot… And it was. Very, very warm. This was just getting more and more weird. The metal was hot to the touch, and her skin was warm and feverish.

Frenda stood up from the table, leaning over a little. "Want me to… run to get some medicine, or something?" She asked, a trace of nervousness in her voice. Mikoto glanced up at her, that uncertainty in her mind again as she tried to place where she knew Frenda, and why it bothered her so damn much.

* * *

Uiharu ran into the kitchen with Saten to get Maika who looked up from the dishes she was washing, her own finished dinner plates already sparkling clean.

"Is everythin-" Maika began before Saten cut in immediately.

"Shirai-san is sick! She's burning up!" Maika dropped what she was doing and jumped up to grab at her medical kit from a drawer and hurried outside to the sitting room, Saten hot on her heels. Uiharu was just about to follow them, but paused as a vibration in her pocket caused her to hesitate. She fished her phone out of her pocket and opened the holographic screen to read the text on the screen. Two words were sent to her.

"STAY INSIDE."

* * *

Yomikawa Aiho leaned back in the drivers side seat of the car she had been in for the past several hours of her shift. She was a tall, curvy woman with dark, long hair pulled into a practical ponytail. Her junior, Tessou Tsuzuri, a freckled and mousy young woman with messy hair was seated next to her, yawned a bit.

"Seriously, how did I end up babysitting not one, but two of this city's living weapons of mass destruction…" Yomikawa groaned a bit, rubbing the bridge of her nose as she looked out the front window down the road at the house that served as the friendly looking fortress that currently held the Railgun of Academy City.

"You volunteered." Tessou reminded her from her left. Yomikawa was silent for moment.

"Shut up." she grumbled with a sigh. "It's time for check-in." She grabbed her radio, putting it up to her mouth. "Everyone sound off." One by one, she heard the various stations sounding off for a several block radius, like they had the past dozen or so times in the past several hours. As the check-in reached about ten blocks off at one of the guard stations, there was a delay.

"Station 34. Sound off." She called again, waiting. Static. "Station 34, again, sound-" There was a gurgling sound on the other end of the radio followed by alarms ringing in the distance- and by an explosion.

* * *

Indigo grinned as he ripped the throat out of the Anti-Skill officer just a moment too late as the man's hand hit the button on the console and set off the alarms.

"Alas… I guess this'll be a bit louder than I would have hoped." He said with a dramatic sigh. He grinned, hearing movement behind him. Turning, he saw another mutilated guard had crawled out of the control room of the Anti-Skill military station. "Now, now… where have you gone…" He hummed as he followed the trail of blood.

His smile faltered as he found himself standing in the docking bay of the armored suits, the dying man's hand on the tall-stacked pile of high-yield explosive grenade rounds that fitted into the suits grenade launchers. His hand was closed around a hand grenade resting against the stack, the pulled pin around the finger of his opposing hand.

"Burn in hell, you fucking monster." He coughed out through his bleeding throat, his hand opening, and the lever flying off.

* * *

The girls froze as the explosion caused the entire house to shake.

"That was a high-yield grenade explosion. A lot of them." Frenda muttered, moving to a window and opening a curtain, looking out and up into the sky, a plume of smoke starting to billow up from a distance away. "Holy shit…"

Uiharu quickly rushed inside. "What was that?" She looked more than a bit panicked as she ran to the window with Frenda, peeking out from underneath Frenda's chin at the billowing tower of smoke that was growing.

"Oh no…" She gasped.

"MISAKA. NO." Saten shouted, Frenda and Uiharu twisted around, spotting Saten physically grabbing onto Misaka by her arm as she was starting to get up off the ground. Kuroko had been softly laid down, her head resting on a pillow.

"I'm just going to see if I can help-"

"No, no, no! Not this shit again, I won't allow it!" Saten shouted, wrestling with her and very easily winning. "You are barely recovering, Anti-Skill can take care of whatever it is, and Shirai needs your attention!"

Mikoto winced and scowled, her expression pained. Uiharu quickly moved over to help Saten.

"Please, Misaka-san, you need to rest, you are still healing. You can let others handle this." She urged, sensing that same self-sacrificing pattern of behavior cropping up inside of her again.

"D-don't try and guilt me!" Misaka snapped at them angrily, her words like venom, both her friends jerking back looking genuinely hurt. She took the opportunity to use her crutch to stand up. She didn't expect the foot to her chest.

Mikoto gasped as she was suddenly slammed to the ground onto her back, her breath knocked right out of her lungs, leaving her hacking and coughing as Frenda stood above her, hands on her hips, her foot still hanging in the air from where she'd just kicked her down onto her ass. She looked remarkably casual and calm for having just dropped the Railgun.

"Wow, bitchy." Frenda said as she placed her foot down, staring down at Mikoto who tried to push herself up but was still coughing and hacking. "Seriously, I cannot believe how terrified I was... " Frenda wiped a little sweat from her brow.

"Y-you f-fucking-" Mikoto tried to rasp out, still hacking and cough.

"Oh, shut the fuck up, Railgun. Your friends love you too much to tell you what you need to hear. You're like a spoiled rich girl throwing another tantrum whenever she doesn't get what she wants, even if what she wants is to play the martyr. Maybe for once you take a moment to consider that the 'right thing to do' is to actually consider that the people around you don't want to see you dead in the ditch, rather than from YOU want, which seems to be suicide. Maybe, just fucking maybe, LISTEN TO THEM. Ya fucking nutcase." She said in an mocking and insulting tone, not an ounce of compassion or care in her voice. Unlike her friends who tried to appeal to Misaka's emotions or bonds of friendship or love, Frenda didn't seem to give one ounce of shit about her.

Mikoto could only stare silently with her mouth hanging open in shock. It was like her brain was suddenly short-circuiting. Uiharu and Saten could only stare like they were watching a trainwreck. Maika was covering her mouth in shock. Kuroko was lying on the pillow in a feverish daze, barely able to follow the events as they were unfolding.

"If you make Ruiko cry, I swear, I will blow your face off." She added in, stomping her foot and pointing. "AND ANOTHER THING!" She began to say, flourishing her hand and pointing once again, before another enormous explosion cut her off, nearly losing her balance as the ground shook, this one even louder than the previous.

"EXCUSE ME, I'M ON A ROLL HERE!" She screamed out in the direction of the explosion.

* * *

"What the fuck is that thing!?"

That was not the first time an Anti-Skill officer had yelled those words as countless rounds of ammo had unloaded down the road at the approaching enemy, a creature that seemed to defy all reason. A barrier of drones and vehicles had been set up to stop its approach after Station 34 had seemingly detonated and collapsed, with this crawling out of the wreckage. This… thing.

A misshapen humanoid figure surrounded by warping space and material, seeming to suck in everything around it to form appendages to attack and projectiles to launch or throw. At the nucleus of this thing was a sphere that kept warping the bullets that were fired at it around to impossible angles, deflecting them harmlessly away. The light that should have revealed the creatures form instead showed a horrific mockery of the human body, the facial expression made up of two enormous glowing violet eyes, twisting serpentine tongues slithering out of a mouth far too large, teeth and mouth merged as one, stretching and twisting.

Yomikawa had to fight the urge to vomit it was so repulsive to look at. She wasn't sure what to do. Worse still, the mocking echoing laughter that came from it told her everything she needed to know. It was playing with them. Every attack they made, every grenade and bullet they sent down lane did nothing but amuse it. If they retreated, it would continue its course toward Railgun, which was no doubt its target.

"Fuck, fuck…" She cursed. What to do… She did have one option…

Tink, tink, tink.

Everyone on the battlefield was distracted, the creature included, by a soda can that landed in the middle of the street as it landed and bounced across the pavement, rolling and rolling before it came to a stop. There was a brief pause before the creature twisted in response toward the direction of where the can came from, and an impact like no other collided with it, the shockwave sending everyone flying backwards and onto the ground.

Yomikawa groaned as she pushed herself off of the pavement, grabbing her assault rifle and shouting over the ringing in her ears.

"Sound off! Whose not dead?!" She yelled as she tried to get a grip on what she was looking at, hearing various shouts in response of her various fellow officers, and her eyes fell on the two figures before her.

* * *

Indigo ripped himself out of the storefront he'd been blasted into after the human-shaped projectile had collided into him, throwing a car with one of his tendrils made of bricks and pavement, his glowing eyes falling on the sweater-vest wearing smiling figure standing in the road, his voice screeching and echoing across several blocks in a rage of unfathomable intensity, the words layered over each other in an unnatural way like a chorus of crying demons, his facial expression twisting into an unnatural visage that no person could ever mistake as human with how the light that shaped it twisted into a barely humanoid visage of two glowing orbs and stretched out tendrils of hate for a mouth.

"WHY DO YOU KEEP BOTHERING ME!?"

"You are behaving in a simply gutless manner, and I can't abide that! Come now, if we go together, I'm sure we can start to make amen-" Indigo did not wait to allow him to finish that sentence before he launched himself, screeching a wordless, inhuman roar of hatred.

* * *

Yomikawa stared as her fellow officers watched, guns at the ready, her jaw hanging down.

"Lieutenant! Who… Who is that?" Tessou asked, pointing her rifle up with slightly shaky hands, unsure of how to approach as they could only watch in stark amazement mixed with horror.

"I… I can't believe it." She whispered.

The young man in the sweater-vest dove out of the way of the creature, cracking his knuckles and rotating his shoulder to stretch it out as he dove backwards casually, sliding out of range before a wide grin spread across his face.

"VERY WELL! LET US SEE IF WE CAN COME TO AN UNDERSTANDING THIS TIME AROUND!" The young man shouted toward the creature as he approached with a casual stroll.

Yomikawa shook her head.

"That's… That's the Seventh Ranked Level 5 of Academy City." Yomikawa gasped out.

"Sogita Guhna."

* * *

"I HATE YOU SO MUCH!" Indigo smashed onto the side of a building, the bizarre spherical-tentacle abomination that served as his attack vector latching on and launching a barrage of attacks at the anomaly that was Sogita Guhna, the Level 5 of Academy City whose powers defied all reason.

"You simply require some self-reflection!" Guhna threw an arm back and launched a fist skyward toward the building, a seeming explosion of air and telekinetic force crashing through the sky and smashing apart the tendrils of debris, crashing into Indigo and the building, squeezing him between the unnatural punch and the structure.

Indigo growled and plowed inside of the building, crashes and explosions of stone and metal being heard as his pseudo-construct of spatial distortions that he'd built around himself rampaged through the skyscraper.

"Property damage is a crime!" Guhna shouted from the street. "It's OK! I did it too! We can apologize together!"

"STOP. TALKING!" Came the echoing reply before a barrage of seemingly endless missiles came flying from the walls, bursting out of windows and pillars. Metal shrapnel of all kinds, nails, pipes, you name it, all flying toward Guhna in a hurricane of death.

Guhna grinned as he raised his fists, and in a flurry of movement faster than the eyes of the watching Anti-Skill could track, began to deflect the projectiles away and onto the pavement, knocking them into the ground with a mad grin. "You've been practicing!" He said in a tone that spoke of admiration of one who respected hard work.

"SHUT UUUUUUUUUP!" The wall exploded as the warped and horrific creature that was Indigo emerged once again from the building his hand reaching out as he pointed at Guhna. "And die."

There was a screeching sound from below as Guhna looked downward and saw all the metal he had been deflecting and had impaled into the ground began to collapse in on itself, causing him to blink in light surprise.

Yomikawa gasped in shock. "Synchrotron-!? EVERYONE GET DOWN!" She screamed as everyone dove for cover and an enormous explosion shook the street, sending debris flying for hundreds of meters around.

As the sound began to clear, and those around dared to begin to stand, the only sound that could be heard was the mad laughter of an insane monster.

"YES YES! AHAHHAAH!" The creature laughed and laughed. "AT LAST-"

"DYNAMIC ENTRY!"

A secondary explosion was heard as Yomikawa managed to briefly see the creature look up in the smoke as a humanoid figure seemed to descend down from the sky, Guhna seemingly having been blasted hundreds of meters into the air… and having crashed downward right onto the monsters head. The shockwave threw her right up against the vehicle behind her, knocking the wind right out of her.

She groaned as she waited rubbing her face.

"Excuse me, miss." she opened her eyes and met with the look of a smiling college-aged young man in a sweater-vest holding out his hand to her. "You seem to be in distress. My troubled friend seems to have run away. Perhaps I can be of assistance to you? That seems to be the gutsy thing to do."


	10. Chapter 10 - The Moon, Reversed

Kuroko groaned a bit as she came to, sitting up in her bed, rubbing her head.

"Shirai-san!" came the ever familiar and compassionate voice of Uiharu next to her. Turning, she saw her sitting on the edge of Kuroko's bed with a small bucket of water and a rag.

"Hey Uiharu… What happened?" She asked softly, blinking. "Was I out long?"

"No, no, only a couple minutes. What do you remember?" Uiharu asked, reaching over to rest the wet rag on Kuroko's fevered forehead again.

Kuroko thought for a moment, replaying events in her head. "Most of everything. I was kind of feverish. What happened after Frenda left to go check what the explosions were?" She asked, looking up at Uiharu again.

"That was just a few minutes ago, so not much. We just took you and Misaka-san to your rooms to rest." Uiharu supplied, smiling a bit weakly. There was concern etched into her face. Kuroko nodded a little, and to Uiharu's surprise, she slid off of the bed and got up, Uiharu quickly standing as well.

"S-Shirai-san!" She said quickly, already in a tizzy at her headstrong friends constant need to be stubborn. Shirai put up a stubby sleeved arm to top Uiharu from putting her back to bed.

"Help me get to Mikoto's room, please. We need to talk."

* * *

In Mikoto's room, Saten was helping Mikoto drink some water, the girl still wheezing a little from the kick she took to the chest. Frenda hit like a truck. Despite this, Mikoto was really struggling to bed angry at her. And that was irritating in its own way.

"Easy…" Saten said softly, helping her finish the small cup before putting it down. Just as they finished the cup, there was a knock at the door before Kuroko and Uiharu stuck their heads in, Mikoto and Saten giving them smiles.

"H-Hey Kuroko. Feeling better?" Mikoto asked softly. Kuroko gave Mikoto a smile in return as she walked over and sat next to her on the bed, moving to cuddle up to her on some pillows, Mikoto falling back a bit. She was tired, minor physical trauma taking a lot more out of her than she was expecting.

"Yeah. It was just the hot water, and excitement, I think." Kuroko grinned and cuddled up closely to Mikoto.

Saten stood up and gave them both a wave as she and Uiharu made to leave, but to both their surprise, it was Kuroko who spoke up.

"Please wait."

Mikoto blinked in surprise, that Kuroko of all people, wanted to put a pause on privacy between the two. Kuroko kept her eyes on Mikoto but kept talking. "I want to talk about something, and I think we all need to be here." She glanced over her shoulder at the pair, who nodded and found seats for themselves in the room. Once people were comfortable, Kuroko made the effort to rearrange herself so she was sitting in Mikoto's lap, much to Mikoto's flushing embarrassment.

"Mikoto, can you make me a promise?" she asked softly of the girl, looking up at her her expression one of seriousness, and a degree of concern. Mikoto blinked before just giving her a nod. Kuroko returned the nod.

"Promise me that you will answer my next question with complete honesty, knowing that no matter your answer, I will support you and love you, and be there for you. OK?" Kuroko said, maintaining a serious level of eye contact that was starting to make Mikoto go from embarrassed to squirming uncomfortable.

"O...OK." Mikoto said softly, looking to Uiharu and Saten for some guidance, who looked equally as confused and bewildered. She looked back at Kuroko, who stared her deep in the eyes, holding her gaze. Mikoto noticed her breathing had changed- it had sped up, grown more anxious. Kuroko was a bit frightened.

"I love you, Mikoto. Please answer me this, OK?" she said again. Leaning up a bit, keeping her eyes tightly on Mikoto, who returned the gaze.

"S-Sure, just ask-"

"Mikoto, are you suicidal?"

The silence of the room could not have been more deafening. Mikoto stared at her with her mouth open for a moment before her expression tightened.

"That's- How could you even ask me something like that?" She immediately responded, sounding immediately angry, though Kuroko maintained her gaze on her, calm, seemingly waiting. "Why would you even, that's just ridiculous-" Mikoto choked on her words and looked from Kuroko to Saten and Uiharu, who looked shocked at the question, watching the conversation unfold, gaze flicking to Mikoto.

"Come on, you guys know me, am I really the type of person to- Is this because of what Frenda said? That's just… That's just stupid!" She snapped, not looking to Kuroko, though as Mikoto's tantrum began to escalate, the concern on Uiharu and Saten's face began to steadily grow.

"...Why are you looking at me like that!?" She snapped at them angrily, their expressions making her angrier even if she didn't know why, held in place by physical weakness and Kuroko's body weight, electrical arcs trailing across the room as her temper flared.

"ANSWER ME!" She shouted, causing both her friends to flinch as large electrical arcs flashed toward the ceiling and caused the lightbulb to pop.

"Mikoto." Kuroko finally spoke up, prompting Mikoto to finally look back at her. Kuroko's expression hadn't changed, her defenseless partner staring up at her with affection and love.

"You promised me. Please answer the question." She asked with a soft, loving gentleness. The temperature of the room that seemed to have consistently been rising in accordance with Mikoto's rage seemed to slowly decrease as Mikoto began to visibly shake, her mouth moving silently at first as she tried to form some kind of response.

"That's.. I… but… It isn't… It's…" She tried to find some kind of out for herself, in the corner of her eye spotting Uiharu and Saten standing up out of alarm. Finally, Mikoto hung her head down silently. Five minutes passed in the room without a word from anyone. Mikoto silently lifted her head as her face, concealed formerly by her bangs, now marred by tears flowing down her face as she began to audibly sob.

"Y-yes…" She sobbed out through choking hiccuping cries, pulling Kuroko to her chest, her legs pulling up as she tried to draw herself inward. "Yes…" She said again as she sobbed uncontrollably, her face pressed into Kuroko's shoulder, a veritable dam of unhealthy coping and emotional scarring, built up after over a year of mental reinforcement, crumbling apart as she sobbed loudly and without any form of restraint or composure.

"Shhh…" Kuroko did her best to return the hug with what she had for arms. Thankfully she was not without help, the arms of Uiharu and Saten wrapping around them both tightly, even as Mikoto cried her emotions freely. Her cries were loud and unrestrained, muffled against Kuroko's shoulders as she weeped, the control she had over the months of mental trauma finally shattered apart into what felt like a million irreparable shards.

"Please… let it out, Mikoto. You don't need to hide anything around us." Kuroko said quietly, nuzzling against Mikoto's head softly, Uiharu and Saten nodding, both sniffling a little as they saw their normally iron-clad friend fall to emotional pieces. It made every tantrum and every emotional explosion and erratic behavior from before come into perspective.

In Mikoto's mind, she felt a thousand quiet voices soothe her in the most subtle way they could, wordlessly sending solidarity to her. Sending her awareness that she was not alone, that she had sisters, sisters that loved her.

None of them were entirely sure how long they were all there for, but eventually, Mikoto sobbed herself to sleep, hiccuping in her sleep even as she was laid down on her pillow, her face a mess of drying tears.

"Do you want some help getting to your room or…" Saten asked Kuroko, expecting the answer, but asking anyway. Kuroko shook her head as she laid her head down next to Mikoto's, staring into Mikoto's face. They nodded with weak smiles as the pair quietly made their way out, briefly taking the time to clean up the broken glass from the lightbulb, and letting them go to sleep.

"Thank you, Mikoto… for being honest." She kissed Mikoto's forehead. She had sensed something dark within Mikoto ever since she'd woken up from her coma. A self-hatred. An intense self-loathing. Mikoto was trying to punish herself, did not believe she deserved a place in this world anymore. Constantly trying to find some worthy cause that she could throw herself onto so she could die with purpose.

Kuroko leaned forward and pressed her forehead against Mikoto's. "You deserve to be happy. One way or another… I'll prove that to you." She said quietly. "I promise to you…"

"...We will have a happy ending."

* * *

A/N I considered doing more with this chapter… but I feel like this is enough. This is all this chapter needs.


	11. Chapter 11 - The Star, Upright

Saten jerked her head up as the buzzer on the door rang finally, nearly spilling her hot mug of black liquid. She stood up from her seat on the stairway, walking over to the front door, checking the camera and spotting Frenda who was staring up at it, flipping it off. It made Saten smile a bit. She hit the button and let Frenda in, opening the front door for her, Frenda sighing as she walked in.

"You look like shit." Frenda said as she walked in. Indeed, Saten had bags under her eyes as she cradled her coffee mug.

"Gee. Thanks." Saten said flatly at her as she kicked the door closed after Frenda was through it. Frenda gave her a raised eyebrow as she watched her friend stalk into the sitting room and sit at the table across from Uiharu who had her head resting on the wood, her own steaming coffee cup resting on a coaster. Frenda couldn't tell if the flower-girl was sleeping or not.

"Geez, what did I miss?" She asked, putting her hands on her hips. Frenda took a look at her phone real quick. "Thanks for staying up while I checked things out, but I mean… It IS like 4 am. You guys can crash. Disaster is over. Everything is cool. Just an out of control Esper. That nutcase Guhna punched it in the face."

"Who?" Uiharu groaned without looking up, her voice muffled from behind her arms. She sounded beyond exhausted.

"Guhna, he's… Ugh… let's just say you haven't heard about him because Academy City finds him embarrassing to be around." Frenda sighed, rubbing her head. "Seriously though, why are you two still up?" She asked. "I was surprised when I got a response to my text."

"We… we had a bit of an emotional evening after you left." Saten said, sipping her coffee. "We kind of feel like we missed something really obvious in retrospect. Shirai and Misaka are upstairs sleeping. Something you said earlier really hit home, and I think… it's just been kind of rough." Saten sighed out. Frenda hummed a bit in response before shrugging a little, pulling her phone out again and looking at it.

"Well, I should get back home. Thanks for the dinner and entertainment, Ruiko." She grinned a bit. "Hope things don't get too unbearable. Shoot me a message later, lemme know how things go." Saten nodded and stood up, Uiharu standing as well to politely see their guest out, as tired as she was. Saten opened the door for Frenda who grinned with mischief rather suddenly, taking advantage of her tired condition to hop on one side of Saten and poke her in the forehead.

"Thanks for having me, Ruiko!" She grinned before dashing around behind her to the opposite side. Uiharu blinked as she had to rub her eyes and check her ears, checking her own memories as she was fairly certain she had not seen and heard what she had most certainly just seen and heard. Because what she'd just seen and heard was a loud slapping sound located somewhere around where Uiharu was pretty sure Saten's butt was, and Saten's face turning a shade of bright burning pink.

"F-FRENDA!" Saten yelled out after her as Frenda dashed out into the night cackling.

"W-what just-" Uiharu began to ask, before Saten dove at Uiharu, covering her mouth.

"Nothing. Nothing happened. Cover your sweet innocent memories with dreams of puppies. It is time for bed. Yes, time for bed. It has been a rough night." And with that Saten took her coffee and fled.

Uiharu stood there with a red face. And made a whining squeaking sound.

* * *

Mikoto groaned a little as she began to stir from her sleep, the late morning light shining through her bedroom windows. She felt beyond drained as she woke up, pushing herself off of the bed. The kimono she'd fallen asleep in was disheveled and askew, her face a mess from the excessive amounts of crying she'd done beforehand.

"Good morning, Mikoto." Mikoto turned to see Kuroko leaning up against some pillows that she'd managed to pile against the wall that the bed had been tucked against not far from her. Her cellphone was balanced in her lap, the holographic display open and voice-command on. Kuroko's ingenuity in doing things without arms was steadily growing. Kuroko was smiling at her softly.

"Good morning…" Mikoto mumbled, feeling more than a little uncertain under her gaze. She remember last night, and she didn't know what to do or say. She… she felt like she was broken. How do you bounce back from having a nervous breakdown because you were confronted unexpectedly?

"Mikoto." Kuroko broke her out of her self-pitying thoughts. Mikoto jerked her head up to look at her, seeing Kuroko's smiling face. "I'm sorry that I pressed you like that. That was unfair…" Kuroko said quietly, her smile wavering a bit. "I was just… I didn't know how else to press the issue. When that fever came up out of nowhere, I couldn't speak up when you were about to leave. I felt a terror that you might leave and get into a fight and never come back."

Mikoto felt a grip on her heart clench tightly as she pulled her legs up to her chest and hugged them, saying nothing. She didn't know what to say, really. Because… she was right. That is exactly what Mikoto was hoping was going to happen. To find some martyrs death in some worthy cause. It was stupid and childish, and she didn't care.

"Did this never come up in therapy, Mikoto?" Kuroko asked softly, carefully. She tugged her own legs up, trying to get inside of Mikoto's thoughts. Figure out what was going on.

"It did." Mikoto said quietly, pressing her feet together in a fidgeting gesture.

"And…?" Kuroko tilted her head a little.

"...I lied." She said simply, burying her face into her legs. "Because pretending to be someone I'm not is something I've always been good at. Pretending to be prim and proper for Tokiwadai was something I practiced and was very good at. Even on days when I wasn't in a good mood, or was angry, or just wanted to be my boyish self, I was good at being what people expected me to be. I'm just… just good at being fake." She sniffled quietly behind her legs.

Kuroko pushed herself off of the pillows, accidentally flopping onto her face into the comforter. Growling a little, she wiggled over toward Mikoto, who turned a little to look at her with slight surprise as Kuroko just kind of slithered her way between Mikoto's legs and chest to cuddle her. Mikoto couldn't help but giggle a bit between tears, which did help cheer her up a but as she hugged Kuroko to her chest.

"Thank you…" She choked out a laugh a bit as she kissed the top of Kuroko's head. Kuroko wiggled to get comfortable, kissing Mikoto's cheek.

"You're welcome. Mikoto… I'm here for you. And you deserve to be happy. You need to stop blaming yourself for everything. Stop shouldering the burden of the world. It's not realistic. And I know it's not realistic for me to think that I can be the only to help you." She said, smiling a little sadly as she cuddled up. "The fact of the matter is, is that I need your help too. I just got a message from the doctor this morning too. In a few weeks he wants to try fitting me with an arm." She said, smiling.

Mikoto nearly felt her heart stop in excitement, sitting up far straighter. "Seriously!? T-that's awesome!" She squeezed Kuroko tightly, Kuroko making a tiny cute gurgling sound at the tightness of the hug.

"Y-yes." she wheezed out. "B-but…" She exhaled as Mikoto loosened her grip. "Here's the deal… How are we going to deal with how you're feeling?" She asked, turning to sit in Mikoto's lap and face her, hugging her with her legs in a way that made Mikoto blush. "Just confessing you feel the way you are is just step one. How are you going to deal with it?" She asked softly, tilting her head at Mikoto.

Mikoto shifted under Kuroko's gaze, biting her lip. "I… I dunno, I just… Just process it I gue-" Mikoto paused in her thought as Kuroko began to INTENSELY glare at her.

"W-what? It's… I've vocalized it, so I think I ca- GRK!" Mikoto suddenly found herself struggling to breathe a little as Kuroko's legs, which had previously been hugging her, were now squeezing her a bit tighter than was strictly comfortable.

"U-uncle…" Mikoto rasped out before Kuroko loosened her grip. Mikoto gasped as she was freed, laying her forehead on Kuroko's shoulder, sighing loudly.

"...I should… talk to the doctor." She whispered quietly. "...will you go with me?" She asked softly to Kuroko. Kuroko smiled as she nuzzled the side of Mikoto's head.

"Always."

* * *

Four weeks later.

"Are you ready, Shirai-san?"

The doctor asked these words of Kuroko as she presented her metal-capped arm to the custom-piece of machinery that honestly intimidated her. It had an arm-sized hole that was shoulder-level with her. The instructions were simple. She was to carefully place her stump into the hole until she felt the metal plating of the cap touch the surface inside and then slowly and firmly push against it, and hold it there.

The entire machine was like a giant eyeball mounted onto a pedestal with enormous plastic tubes and wires connected to the back of it and into the walls and floors of the laboratory where this was all to take place. She was told to wear something comfortable and easy to move in that was short sleeved. So she'd worned a short-sleeved hoodie that Mikoto had bought for her, mercifully without any cartoon characters, with a pair heavier woolen winter pants- it was officially November after all, and snow was starting to become far more common. Kuroko hated now.

"Y-yes. Let's do this." Kuroko nodded, looking over her shoulder at Mikoto, who was directly behind her to support her, hands on her shoulders. With a nod to each other, they both stepped forward, Kuroko sliding her arm into the device, anxiety pounding in her beating chest. She felt her heart nearly skip a beat as the plate of her stump touched the surface inside of the machine, but Mikoto thankfully kept her going, and pushed forward.

It felt a bit like a jolt from when she'd been shocked in the past by Mikoto, and rather suddenly, as she and Mikoto pressed the two pieces of metal against each other, they stuck firmly as if fused. The machine whirred and hummed in a way that frightened Kuroko, all the doctors and scientists in the room monitoring and muttering to each other in an excitable fashion that did not give her a sense of calm.

After what felt like an eternity, the sound of the machine hit a crescendo, and in an instant, Kuroko suddenly found herself released, caught from falling over by Mikoto as the magnet-like fusion of metal that kept her stuck inside of the eyeball-like machine suddenly ceased.

After Kuroko spent a few moment panting and calming herself, she tried to get a look at the metal plating, but there was really no angle she could get at it herself, though based on Mikoto's expression, something was clearly different. Heaven Canceller was kind enough to bring a mirror over to show the change however.

The cap, which was formerly dark as night and featureless, now showed a crimson series of indents in a circular pattern along the outer rim of the cap.

"Huh…" Kuroko tilted her head as she looked at it. It didn't feel any different. The indents had to be at most half an inch or so in depth.

"This is just step one. If we're fortunate, this next step will be far easier, and will work. Are you ready?" He asked Kuroko, who gave him an excited nod. She was ready, she was beyond ready, she wanted this to be reality, she wanted this to work.

They stepped over to a table where Kuroko was guided to sit down next to it. On that table was an arm made of dark blue metallic material, with a dark black shard implanted right at the very end where the arm would meet the upper-arm. Encircling it was the same type of crimson indents that Kuroko now had on her dark metal cap. The arm was shockingly what could be called a masterpiece of engineering and artwork, with finely shaped angles, and smooth surfaces and shining materials. If covered in a glove or the like, it could easily be taken for a normal human arm.

"If we are correct, these two should connect and interact in such a way that you will be able to control it with your own neural synapses. Are you ready?" He asked once more, Kuroko giving him another nod, Mikoto putting her hands on Kuroko's shoulders. The pair glanced toward an observation window where Uiharu and Saten watched, both of them holding both their hands up, fingers crossed.

Bringing their attention back down, the technicians slowly slid the arm toward Kuroko's waiting forearm, shifting it to properly align, and with a sense of tense finality, it clicked into place.

"Try moving the fingers, Shirai-san." The doctor said softly.

Kuroko nodded, her attention focused entirely on the hand as she furrowed her brow, her breathing deep and controlled as she focused and focused, trying to will the hand to do anything at all, to move, to twitch, to do anything.

As the minutes crept by, the staff patiently waiting, and the frustration starting to leak on to Kuroko's expression, Mikoto squeezed her shoulders slightly.

"You got this, Kuroko." She whispered quietly. Kuroko looked up at her for a moment before back at the hand again, taking a focusing breath, closing her eyes and reflecting…

Reflecting back toward a memory that might help… teleporting seemed obvious… eating… running… balancing… punching… Feeling pain… Having pain relieved... by her beloved.

"KUROKO!" Mikoto called out to her, Kuroko's eyes snapped open, looking up at Mikoto who was excitedly pointing, her gaze following the pointing back to the table.

The hand. Her hand. Was… moving.

"I… I can feel it." She gasped out as she slowly closed the hand. "It's… it's my arm."

And without any control or shame, Kuroko found herself burst into tears of unrestrained joy.


	12. Chapter 12 - The Fool, Upright

"DAMN IT!"

Kuroko angrily glared at the shattered glass cup that had suffered its fate between her new right hand at the kotatsu table, its shards and the liquid within it next to her plate. Saten stood up from the table and approached the dry erase board she had hung three days ago when they'd returned from the hospital after she'd had the arm attached.

"Saten, don't you dare!" Kuroko shouted. "DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE!" Saten did not heed the warnings as she grabbed a marker and undid the cap, adding another tally under the words 'cups destroyed by Kuroko' that was now officially at twelve. Kuroko glared daggers at her as Saten grinned back. Maika sighed as she swept up the mess as Kuroko began to pout.

"It's OK, Kuroko…" Mikoto pet her head a bit as Kuroko sulked, staring at the rebellious mechanical hand that she was still learning to control.

"It's just so hard…" She whined out, leaning into the petting. Mikoto reached over and took the hand into her own, Kuroko jumping a bit, still getting extremely anxious when Mikoto grabbed her hand.

"You know you can't hurt me." She grinned. Uiharu and Saten, who sat back down from her dry erase board, as well as Miaka who resumed cleaning around the room, watched as Mikoto did indeed take her hand without an ounce of fear. They all smiled as Kuroko's mostly synthetic arm lightly twitched as electrical impulses rocketed up from where the pairs hands touched.

"S-stop staring at me…" Kuroko muttered as she noticed everyone in the room was staring very much at her as Mikoto used her powers to ensure that Kuroko's brain's electrical impulses didn't accidentally send incorrect instructions that might crush Mikoto's hand. Instead it allowed Kuroko to enjoy a firm, pleasant sensation of holding her beloved's hand.

The room giggled a bit before returning to breakfast, Kuroko sighed as she got some relief from the over-attentive eyes. She glanced up at Mikoto who was smiling down at her, before surprising her as she leaned down and pressed the tips of their noses together affectionately. Kuroko didn't even get a chance to respond before Mikoto just returned to eating her breakfast with one hand, eating waffles with her fork.

A month later from that confrontation in her bedroom, and Mikoto was starting to look better. It had been… a challenge. Kuroko scooted over to lean on Mikoto's arm, smiling a bit, opening her mouth.

"Kuroko… You don't need to be fed." Mikoto said in a scolding manner.

"Sure I do. My arm is being held hostage. I've only got the one." She said, grinning up at her from Mikoto's shoulder. She waved her other arm for emphasis, the sleeve of her short-sleeved hoodie flopping around her left arm stump for emphasis.

Mikoto sighed and shoved some waffle into Kuroko's mouth. Kuroko was seemingly grinning through the syrup-y goodness in victory. Kuroko was beyond pleased with herself, and it wasn't just because of the waffles. She'd convinced Mikoto return to therapy under the agreement that it'd be as a couple.

Kuroko looked up at Mikoto as she rested her cheek against Mikoto's shoulder, watching her face. It'd been tough. Even Kuroko had been… ignorant of herself. She liked to pretend she'd been more put together than she actually was. Deep within, all it actually was, was… honesty. Honesty that they were in pain. Accountability to each other, and to others.

She had an arm back. Eventually she'd have another. Maybe, just maybe she'd have some powers back. Even if she didn't, she would find a way to move on with her life. She glanced over at Saten and Uiharu, Saten who was trying to spy on Uiharu's cell phone, and Uiharu who was trying to compare her height to Saten, who seemed to perpetually be getting taller and taller. It was kind of absurd, she was turning into a GIANT. Uiharu snagged her phone away from a nosy Saten before standing.

"I g-gotta go. I have some errands to run." Uiharu said, scrunching her nose at Saten as she went off to bundle herself against the snowy cold that was outside in the November chill.

"Errands?" Kuroko asked curiously.

"J-just some stuff!" Uiharu responded evasively. It made them all quite curiously where she might be going so early in the morning. Saten, shockingly, had no comment on the matter as she continued eating her breakfast. As Uiharu made her way out, they looked to her with questioning looks.

She drank her juice before letting out a pleased sigh and placed the cup down, grinning at them.

"So, I stole her itenary for the day and know where she's gonna be at 2:30 with her SUPER SECRET CONTACT, all caps required. Wanna come?" Mikoto sighed with exasperation, and Kuroko could only help but laugh at Saten's audacious invasiveness, if only out of sheer nostalgia.

"Saten… you will never change." Kuroko smiled a little, shaking her head. Perhaps happiness, a happy ending, was not so far-fetched.

* * *

That same smiling visage of Kuroko rather suddenly found a knife through its center, though it was only a photographic fascsimile.

"Alright then." Indigo said calmly, casually even, with a more serene look on his face than he'd had in months. He spared a glance at the stoic expression of the young test subject, now fully clothed in an ankle-length skirt and sweater, posture passive as it stared at him without reacting.

He released the knife as it thrummed against the metal table and approached the large monitor on the wall, one by one, images of the Level Five's of Academy City appearing across its screen. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven.

Eight.

"Time to knock the lot of you still breathing out of your comfort zones." His grin widened as his gaze turned to his stoic puppet standing staring into space behind him. Oh Crowley… If only you could see the mockery that had been made of his precious work. Yes… It was time...

"Let's watch this city burn."

* * *

"This feels WRONG." Mikoto said in their hiding spot behind a hedge at a table in some cafe in School Garden. The whole place was looking so much better, the vast majority of reconstruction completed at this point. The three girls were bundled up in the cold, but no intrusive snow could really be seen, and the climate control in this area of the city made it much more comfortable than the rest of the city. They could see Uiharu waiting in front of a shop all bundled up in a furry long coat and gloves, her flower headdress with white and blue flowers for winter on her head as she seemed to be patient waiting for someone.

"No, no, it's fine. We're making sure she's safe." Saten said in an extremely weak, no effort attempt at justifying their spying on their friend. "I mean, I've been snooping on Uiharu for months now. She's had this secret contact she's been talking to since you guys were in the hospital, and I HAVE to know who it is and why she's so damn secretive about it. I mean, we're her BEST FRIENDS, what would you do if someone was-"

"Stop." Kuroko cut in, sighing as she sipped her tea with EXTREME care, glaring at the cup as she tried her damn hardest to not break it. "You're not fooling anyone, and we're here, so just… ugh." Kuroko was getting a headache just listening to Saten.

"OH OH OH! SOMEONE IS HERE!" Saten practically leaped out of her seat. She peeked over the top of the hedge as someone approached Uiharu. Kuroko and Mikoto peeked with her despite their attempts to not care. The individual was dressed in an extremely fur coat coat and leather boots, leggings disappearing underneath the coat, long blonde hair hanging over the back of the coat. An expensive designer bag rested on one shoulder and across her chest to her opposite hip.

"Wow, she's a babe." Saten said, not recognizing the individual at all.

"Is… is that…?" Kuroko whispered in shock, her mouth hanging open.

"N-no…!?" Mikoto's voice was less of shock and more of one of sheer unfiltered disgusted horror.

The woman was flanked by a friendly and cheerful looking smiling girl that looked a bit older than the rest of the girls with truly impressive looking violet hair in enormous ringlets, dressed in a similar, but distinctly slightly-less-impressive dress style than the mistress she trailed. The girl on the opposite side with far shorter hair than the other two ojou-sama's, neck-length and a light brown.

The two flanking girls were named Hokaze Junko, for the giant ringlet girl, and Kobayashi Shimanaka for the shorter haired girl. A type of Electromaster and Telepath respectively, both Tokiwadai students. Kuroko and Mikoto both recognized them.

Their attention was not focused on those two however. Their attention was on the one at the center, the one they bowed to respectfully and departed from, leaving the well-dressed lady alone with Uiharu. The blonde adjusted her white gloves as she smiled down at Uiharu, who was fidgeting and blushing, evidently muttering something that the girls could not hear from this distance.

"Who is that?" Saten asked, glancing at her two friends, blinking and looking confused as she saw their expressions. "...Uh, guys?" She suddenly felt more worried as their expressions grew more and more expressive, Saten's gaze turning back to Uiharu.

Mikoto's eyes grew wider as events unfolded. Kuroko said exactly what Mikoto couldn't bear to let out of her mouth.

"The Queen of Tokiwadai… Shokuhou Misaki." Kuroko whispered, her jaw hanging open as they continued to stare at the pair from over the hedge at their cafe lookout. Misaki, smiling down at the shorter Uiharu, who she dwarfed by about three inches, reached down and cupped Uiharu's chin with two fingers and a thumb.

"Wait… Isn't that… Isn't that the other Level 5 of Tokiwadai?" Saten asked in a hushed whisper, her eyes wide as she tried to process that news, before her eyes darted back up at the drama beginning to unfold in front of them.

"No… nononono…" Mikoto began to mutter. Uiharu's face was guided to look up at Misaki's, and as Misaki began to lean down toward Uiharu, Kuroko had to lean over and grab Mikoto before the Railgun did something rash, like zap Misaki in the face. A lot harder to do with one arm. Uiharu's eyes began to flutter closed, her cheeks burning red, as the two drifted closer...

"NONON-!" Saten dove over and Kuroko scrambled around on Mikoto as best she could, muffling Mikoto's mouth before she made a scene, but they could all only stare in pure shock as they watched…

As Uiharu and Misaki's lips met.


	13. Chapter 13 - High Priestess, Reversed

"Mikoto, you need to calm down!" Kuroko whispered in a harsh tone as Mikoto struggled against her. Mikoto bit at Kuroko's hand as she tried to smother the shouting, but it was an ultimately fruitless task as Mikoto could only let out a cry of pain as she recalled that Kuroko's hand was now MADE OF METAL.

Finally, with great effort, the pair managed to get Mikoto to calm down and only glower angrily in the direction of Uiharu and the Queen of Tokiwadai, who had maintained their not-whatsoever-chaste kiss for quite some time before Misaki had ended it, taking Uiharu's hand in her own and gesturing in a direction. The trio could only watch in dumbfounded confusion as the couple began to walk down the street.

The thing that got Mikoto, and Kuroko, to nearly burst into rage, was Misaki taking the briefest of moments to look over her shoulder directly at the trio, meeting Mikoto's eyes, a wry smirk spreading across her face before she turned her attention back forward once more.

"WE'RE FOLLOWING THEM." Mikoto hissed as she grabbed at her forearm crutch and began to quickly move along, Kuroko more than happy to keep pace, and Saten rushing ahead, if only so that her snooping mission wasn't usurped from her.

* * *

"S-so what's the big deal here? I mean, this is TOTALLY AWESOME, don't get me wrong, Uiharu is dat-" Saten began to say, looking beyond excited as she collected all the teasing material in the world.

"It's NOT awesome!" Mikoto hissed as they kept a fair distance, stalking their prey. Saten just looked confused beyond belief at Mikoto's anger, looking to Kuroko for some help. Kuroko let out a sigh as she began to explain.

"That girls power is known as Mental Out. She is the single most powerful telepath in all of Academy City. She can make almost anyone do anything. She can read minds, send thoughts, control actions, brainwash, change perceptions, beliefs, pre-program behaviors. Her powers are… terrifying."

As Kuroko explained Mental Out's powers, Saten's cheer rather rapidly began to slide from her face, starting to get replaced with a horrified expression.

"Is… Is she…" Saten looked like she was thinking about straight up rushing Misaki, Kuroko quickly reaching out and grabbing onto her shoulder, a bit tighter than she meant to, Saten letting out a strangled cry of pain as the unnaturally strong hand squeezed down on her poor fleshy shoulder.

Kuroko let go with a wincing silent apology, Saten waving it off. Their eyes turned to look at their stalked prey.

Uiharu and Misaki were sitting in a cafe, drinking tea, talking. That was it, it seemed. Both of their coats had been taken by the staff of the very high class establishment, so the pair were just enjoying their tea while enjoying a silent, from the trio's perspective, conversation. Uiharu seemed to be blushing the entire time while Misaki seemed to be endlessly amused during the entire silent talk.

Mikoto looked barely restrained from her hiding spot behind a decorate tree that was planted on the street side, each girl hidden behind their own tiny tree, being given strange looks. "Do we have a game plan here?" Saten asked quietly as she poked her head through the branches of the little tree.

Mikoto and Kuroko did not immediately reply, and instead merely made uncertain grumbling sounds. I mean, what DO they do? Misaki was a frightening opponent… Mikoto was immune to her mind control because of her electromagnetic field, but that wouldn't stop Misaki from controlling Kuroko or Saten or Uiharu or everyone in the Cafe…

"We have to rescue Uiharu from her harpy clutches…" Mikoto hissed, her hand clenching into a fist as her other squeezed around her crutch. The duo aware of the meaning of the action felt their breath catch in their throat as Misaki fished out a remote control from her bag and say something to Uiharu, who looked surprised, and click a button. Uiharu blinked before her eyes glazed over and her posture softened, slouching over a little.

Mikoto nearly exploded in rage, her fury pausing only as Misaki turned to look at the three of them watching, beckoning them over with a finger. Mikoto didn't need any invitation, and Kuroko and Saten didn't need much else as they quickly followed into the cafe.

As they stormed in, the three paused part way in. Everyone, quite literally everyone in this packed cafe, had the same vacant stare as Uiharu. They just… stared. Waiting. Saten grabbed on to Mikoto's arm, prompting the Railgun to look at her, and saw the typically fearless Saten was genuinely terrified. It was like everyone in the room had been stripped of their minds.

"Please, come join us." A heavenly, and silky-smooth voice cooed from around the corner. Mikoto stormed toward it where Misaki currently sat, as well as Uiharu, still staring vacantly into space. What made it more infuriating was Misaki holding on to Uiharu's hand as she sat there.

"What the fuck do you think you're playing at?!" Mikoto lunged at Misaki, grabbing at her collar. Misaki looked entirely unfazed.

"You'll need to be more specific, Mikoto-chan." Misaki said in a tone that was nothing short of condescending. Saten felt her eyes snap to Kuroko who looked like she was about to knock out Misaki's teeth out for talking to Mikoto in such a way.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO UIHARU!?" Mikoto shouted in Misaki's face, Misaki sighing as she pushed Mikoto back. Misaki was not known for her physical prowess. But Mikoto was forced to let go as she rebalanced herself on her crutch and stumbled, Mikoto helping to right her a bit, the trio glowering at her.

"I've done nothing." Misaki shrugged. "Unless you mean right now. This is just a favor. I did not want her to know that her friends are spying on her romantic life. My little flower is a bit of a curious and nosy type herself, but she always drew a line of moments she'd never intrude upon." Misaki said, squeezing Uiharu's hand. The three stared at her, somewhat floored at the kind of bizarre explanation they were being given.

"You are the ones following Haru-chan and I on our date. You are the intruders, not us." Misaki said, brushing some hair from her shoulder, huffing a bit.

"R-romant-? D-date?!" Mikoto hissed, looking like she was preparing to beat Misaki to death with her crutch.

"Yes, date. Would you like me to undo this? Haru-chan can explain it herself. Though then you will have to explain why you were spying on her, how you knew where we were, and an assortment of other questions." She raised the remote up. For a moment, all three friends looked uncertain as they waited.

Misaki stared at them. She let the seconds crawl on. "Convenient, isn't it?" She asked. The three of them looked at her in confusion.

"It's easy to judge a telepath. But it is very easy to give in to the temptations of how easy it can make ones life. Choose." Misaki dared them, pointing the remote at Uiharu.

"Let her go." Mikoto finally broke the silence, and before anyone else could say a word, Misaki lowered her finger, a beep emanating from the remote. She tucked it away into her bag as time seemed to continue and everyone in the cafe resumed what they were doing. Uiharu blinked several times as she came back into focus.

Uiharu glanced to one side, then the next, at her friends, then Misaki, then back at her friends.

"Wha- why- how-!?" She looked down at the hand that was holding Misaki's and almost out of instinct tried to pull it away, but found it rather firmly in the Queen's grasp. Misaki simply resumed sipping her tea as she held Uiharu's hand in her vice grip.

"You have nothing to be ashamed of Haru-chan. Your friends were ever so curious it seems." Was all she said as she sipped her tea, her starry eyes concealed behind her lids. Uiharu's eyes turned to her friends who were standing somewhat paralyzed in uncertainty.

"What… Why are you guys here? How are you… How did you…?" Uiharu's face was burning red in embarrassment and confusion, and the trio of friends across from her seemed uncertain as to how to respond. Mikoto grimaced a little, one hand in Kuroko's while the other leaned on her crutch as she began to lean forward and opened her mouth to speak. She had been the one to ask Misaki to break the trance, so she felt the need to say something. She never got the chance.

Saten cut in front of Mikoto, quickly speaking up. "We're here because of me, Uiharu." Saten said quickly, her expression one of grim determination. Uiharu managed to tug her hand free of Misaki's grip and stand up, her hands moving to her chest as she frowned at Saten.

"W-what do you mean? What's going on, Saten-san?" She asked, though there was an edge to her voice brought on by stress. Saten shifted a little under Uiharu's gaze, but didn't waver as she stood up a bit straighter.

"I mean… I just… You've been kind of secretive lately, so I thought, you know… I'd see what you were up too." She began to explain, though almost immediately, she felt her resolve begin to waver. "Then we saw some stuff, and just were trying to make sure you were safe!" Saten said, though her tone was getting very defensive in short order. Kuroko and Mikoto behind her were starting to shift uncomfortably, glancing at each other, Kuroko's arm occasionally twitching as Mikoto ensured it behaved.

A flash of guilt seemed to spread across Uiharu's face for a moment, but she seemed to shake it away. "How did you even know where I was?" She asked, frowning at her.

"W-well… I uh.. Borrowed… your itinerary…" Saten said quietly, glancing to the side. Uiharu's heart skipped a beat. Panic surged through her. If Saten had stolen that, then she might have seen…

"W-why did you go through my things!?" Uiharu yelled on impulse, her politeness slipping as emotion began to give way. Saten jerked back, her own emotions starting to clearly begin to build up.

"I was just trying to make sure you were OK! I mean, are you!?" She asked sharply, prompting Uiharu to jerk her head back in surprise.

"W-what's that supposed to mean?!" She snapped back angrily. Kuroko and Mikoto looked around, noticing that those in the room were staring at the growing argument, and that Misaki was fishing through her bag with a kind of bored expression on her face, muttering something quietly to herself.

"I mean, you've been keeping this from us! How do you know this is safe?!" Saten argued back at her, Uiharu grabbed at her blouse tightly, balling it in her fists.

"It's perfectly safe! I've been dating Misaki-sama for over half a year!" Uiharu yelled back, surprising Saten, Kuroko, and Mikoto all at once. At first they could only blink in shock at the statement, in pure disbelief. Saten was the first to have something to say. As Saten shouted her response back, her expression was one twisted in anger and uncontrolled emotions, the girl towering over her shorter friend as her voice raised.

"H-how do you even know if that's actually true?! I found out what her power is, what if she's controlling yo-"

CRACK.

The entire room seemed to sharply inhale their breath. Kuroko and Mikoto could only stare with horrified slack-jawed expressions. Even Misaki's gaze had spun around with her eyes wide in surprise, seeming at a loss for what had just happened.

Saten could only stare to the side out the window away from Uiharu, her neck having twisted, and her cheek searing with heat, from the force of the slap from Uiharu. Her mouth hung slightly open, the shock spread across her face.

"You don't even know her." Uiharu said with a cold anger. "Don't talk that way about someone I love more than anyone!" Uiharu's voice shook with emotion.

Slowly, Saten forced herself to look at Uiharu, who had tears flowing down her face, tears of frustration and anger.

"I THOUGHT YOU WERE MY FRIEND!"

Silence echoed throughout the cafe. Seconds crawled by, as no one said a word. Uiharu's icy anger seemed to slowly thaw, just as slowly as Saten's struck dumb expression was marred by tears as they fell down her face. Uiharu's expression seemed to shift from anger to horror.

"...S-Saten, w-wait-" Uiharu began to say, but she did not get another word out before Saten tore from the building.

"SATEN, WAIT! WAIT! I'M SORRY! I DIDN'T MEAN IT!" Uiharu tried to run after her, but by the time she made it to the cafe door, Saten was gone, long legs and an athletic frame having carried her far, far from the establishment.

The sky rumbled as a winter thunderstorm began to rumble and icy rain began to fall, Uiharu pulled in from the rain forcibly by loving arms of a blond beauty who shushed her quietly, even as she sobbed in her embrace.


	14. Chapter 14 - The Hermit, Reversed

Saten ran and ran and ran, her legs burning and her lungs screaming as they worked to pump oxygen through her labored body. She didn't care. She didn't know how much she cried, as freezing rain began to pour on her body and soak through her clothes. She didn't care about that either.

Eventually, she felt the weakness begin to overcome her and collapsed into a computer terminal booth, sliding down the glass of the wall onto the ground into a sobbing, self-loathing mess on the ground. Uiharu's words echoed in her head and the only thing she could think to do was angrily smash her head repeatedly against the side of the booth until she felt her head screaming in pain.

She let herself slump back down in the corner of the booth and just sat there motionless, trying not to think about anything, her head aching, feeling alone in the world. The cold rain poured outside, droplets singing a chorus against the plastic booth. She was cold, her nose running from crying and the frost. Her clothes were soaked and clung to her, and she was starting to shiver violently.

Despite herself, she pulled out her phone, staring at it, knowing she needed to call someone, before she got sick with hypothermia. She just didn't know who to call. She stared at the phone, minutes crawling by before she finally dialed a number, putting the phone to her ear.

After a few rings, it picked up.

"Yello?" Came a familiar, chipper voice with an ever-so-odd foreign accent.

Saten opened her mouth to say something, but found that she was not as calm as she thought she was, and a strangled sob came out instead of words. Every time she tried to say something, she just made pathetic crying noises, and the voice on the other end seemed momentarily stunned.

"Please… help... " She managed to sob out. "Frenda…" She said in a tone nothing short of begging. On the other end of the line, there was a pause, and she heard shouting, and a older male voice reply, before she got a response.

"Where are you?"

* * *

Saten sat in that booth curled up in a ball, leaned up against the transparent plastic plexiglass for longer than she cared to count. Eventually a car pulled up next to it, and the door to the booth swung open. A familiar face knelt down next to her, Frenda's blond hair swinging downward as she peeked at her.

"Hot damn, you look like absolute shit." Frenda said, frowning at her, reaching down and grabbing on to her, pulling her out of the booth. As she was pulled up, she found herself standing underneath an umbrella. Saten turned and found herself looking at a tall, older man, maybe in his late teens, or early twenties, with short, spikey blond hair. He was holding a large umbrella for the lot of them.

"Hey. Names-" He began, before Frenda cut him off.

"No one cares, geez!" Frenda waved him off, to which he sighed dramatically.

"You're so mean…" He groaned out, walking the pair of girls over to the still running car over by the side of the street, opening the door for them. Frenda guided Saten into the car, sticking her tongue out at the blonde man who just gave her a flat look. There was a sibling-like rapport between them that Saten was picking up on, but was too cold and tired to give much thought.

Before long, they were cruising along a mostly empty series of roads. The heat was blasting, though Saten was still shaking violently.

"Fuck, you're like ice…" Frenda felt at Saten as she muttered to herself quietly. "No worries. We'll get you warmed up." Frenda grinned, patting Saten's head. Saten didn't say a word, and Frenda's expression twisted into one of concern. She wasn't really sure what to say. She wasn't exactly one for… emotions or comforting others. She just wasn't good at it.

"We're here."

The car pulled in to their destination, to an indoor parking garage, mercifully heated. Frenda hopped out, tugging Saten out, who let herself get mindlessly guided, too tired to really say anything at this point.

"Go get that stuff I had on the list, OK?" She said to the blonde man, who waved her off with a grumble and took off in the car. Frenda guided Saten to an elevator in the parking garage upwards with a keycard swipe, eventually exiting out into a very long hallway with a series of doors, all marked with numbers.

A hotel hallway. Frenda swiped the keycard she had, yanking Saten into the room. She took a moment to check the hallway before closing it behind her and triple checking the lock. Saten just kind of stood several feet from the door, looking pathetic as she stared into space, depressed.

"Oh geez, girl. You're killing me." Frenda groaned, pushing Saten from behind into the bathroom.

"What the fuck even happened?" Frenda groaned as she began to unceremoniously take Saten's clothes from her, which began to become more of a struggle than she expected. Both because the clothes were sticking something terrible, and because Saten suddenly was getting bashful.

"Ruiko, I swear, I will slap the bitch out of you. You will freeze to death in these clothes." Frenda was having none of it, and after some brief wrestling and thinly veiled threats, Saten found herself grabbing at a towel and trying to hide herself behind it as Frenda was putting a hot bath on. "You're gonna soak in this so you don't get hypothermia because apparently you're stupid." Frenda said harshly.

Saten winced a little as she shifted uncomfortably, still shivering visibly as she hugged the towel to her chest. Frenda stood up and took a moment to look Saten over in a way that was not even a little shy, seeming to admire Saten, which just prompted a blush from her.

"Bath." She pointed, which at this point, Saten was too eager to get into to escape Frenda's invasive ogling. Somehow it felt like karma for everything she'd done to ogle Uiha-. Ending that thought. As she quickly moved past Frenda to get to the water, Frenda snatched the towel from her, and she was forced to take the last few steps to the bath squeaking in embarrassment as she dove under the water.

When she stuck her head above the surface of the water, Frenda was sitting on the sink top looking down at her with a cheshire grin. "You're so cute and sexy, Ruiko." Frenda teased, giggling. Saten made bubbles at her from under the water, just her eyes peeking out at her, her hair sticking to her scalp.

"So… wanna talk about it?" Frenda asked, tilting her head at the waterlogged teen currently thawing. Eventually, after a moment of thinking about it, Saten simply shook her head. Frenda shrugged a little. "Alright, suit yourself." She sighed a bit, hopping off of the sink top.

"Just warm up in there for a bit, OK? You could have killed yourself." She said before walking out of the bathroom, Saten watching her go. Frenda always filled her with these strange emotions that she didn't know how to process. She behaved in chaotic and free-willed manner, uncaring of what others thought of her.

Saten admired her. She never admitted it… but she really, really did. Plus, there was a part of her that kind of appreciated Frenda's aggressive flirtation and sexual attention. It made her feel attractive. And deep down, there was a part of her that…

Saten shook her head side to side, the water swaying around as she tried to banish the incredibly dark thoughts. It wasn't like Frenda was doing anything beyond teasing her anyway.

"You doing OK in there?!" Frenda shouted from the other room, the sound of a TV being heard running.

"Yeah…" Saten mumbled back, sinking into the water quietly. She hated herself so much right now.

The fact of the matter was, is that she had been the shittiest of friends to Uiharu. She had no idea what she was talking about, and she hadn't bothered to find out. And deep down, in a dark, horrible part of her soul, when she looked at Kuroko and Mikoto, and when she looked at Misaki and Uiharu now, even if she wasn't so sure Misaki wasn't controlling Uiharu… she felt envy. Horrible, dark, green envy.

She felt alone. She felt cold and alone. She felt like a lonely murderer who didn't deserve anyone, and Uiharu hitting her and saying those words felt like every insecure voice in her head being proven right.

She felt so, so alone….

"MOVE OVER!" Rather abruptly, Saten found herself shoved over as Frenda pushed her way into the bath and sighed as she soaked herself in the water, grinning as she savored the hot water, turning the flow of hot water once more to get some more heat.

"W-what are you doing?!" Saten gasped out in surprise, her face red.

"Bathing. Duh." Frenda huffed as she crossed her arms against the edge of the bath with a sigh, resting her chin on top of them smiling. Saten could only stare at her for a moment before matching her posture and deciding not to let herself get too flustered, especially since Frenda seemed to be… mostly… behaving.

"So… why a hotel?" Saten asked quietly.

"Hm?" Frenda asked as she shifted a bit in the water, Saten doing her damn best to keep her eyes forward.

"I mean… do you not have your own place?" Saten asked, glancing at her. Frenda shrugged a little in response.

"My roommates can be bitchy, it is easier this way." Was all she said, smiling and resting her cheek against her arm. Saten gave her a look before shrugging a bit and returning to sighing and relaxing in the water, and generally feeling sorry for herself.

* * *

Saten blinked a bit as she realized she was being poked in the forehead by a robe-clad Frenda.

"Wake-up sleepy head." Frenda grinned. Saten blinked as she looked around, seeing that she must have dozed off in the bath. Drowsily, she stood up in the bath, Frenda taking her hand to help her balance, though Saten snatched her hand back to cover herself when she realized Frenda's eyes had drifted far lower than her face after she'd helped her out of the water.

"You're the WORST." Saten growled at her, to which Frenda only shrugged a bit and helped Saten out regardless, handing her a towel and a fluffy warm robe. Saten took both before Frenda walked out of the bathroom. Saten noted that Frenda looked a bit red in the cheeks. After drying herself off and getting the robe on, she walked out and saw a pizza had been ordered and was on the table in front of the TV, and a stack of drinks was in front of said table.

Frenda herself seemed to have already gone through one drink and was on to the next.

"What's that?" Saten asked, to which Frenda offered her the drink. Saten took it and gulped a mouthful down, filled with almost INSTANT regret. She hacked and coughed, Frenda deftly catching the bottle as Saten dropped it, falling down as she retched.

"WHAT is that poison!?" She wheezed out, pointing at the bottle that Frenda was now casually drinking from.

"Pilsner." She said, smiling at Saten, giggling. "It's a Norwegian lager."

"BEER?!" Saten coughed, rolling around on the ground, to Frenda's great amusement.

"Oh, yeah. I had Shiage grab some. He was the blonde idiot you met earlier. You definitely could use some." She grinned, grabbing another bottle and offering her some. Saten sat up and stared at the bottle like it was a dark murderer plotting her demise.

"I promise- it'll make the pain feel very far away. It's like borrowing happiness from tomorrow." Frenda grinned widely.

"You… You realize we're like… minors, right?" Saten said, pointing out the obvious, staring at Frenda with an incredulous look. Frenda just scoffed at her.

"Oh please, Ruiko. I'm Norwegian. Live a little. We don't worry as much as you stuffy folk here in Academy City do. Have a few beers, it'll be fine." She says, shoving the beer into Saten's hand.

Saten stared down at the brown glass bottle with a strained contemplative look, wincing a little before popping the cap off.

* * *

Saten was learning so much today. The first she was learning was that she could not stop giggling when she got drunk. Frenda wasn't much better. She mostly kept grabbing at Saten's robe and tugging at it, and Saten kept having to wrestle it back while giggling and falling over.

"S-stoooop!" She giggled out while falling over. This had been par for the course. Saten had learned that drinking games were a thing. She learned that Frenda cheated, both for and against her own favor. And she learned that holy shit could they both drink a lot. Both of them were absolutely hammered. Poor Shiage had come up to check on them at one point and nearly gotten beaned by a beer bottle.

"Only if you ffffinally tell me whash bothering you." Frenda said with a slight slur to her words as she sat back up, leaning against the table and nibbling on some pizza crust. Saten sat back up, frowning as she leaned against the table, her giggling subdued as her mood swung from happy to sad.

"My friends hate me… cause I'm shitty…. I'm a shitty friend…" Saten grumbled as she slid down to lay her face on the table. Frenda looked at her with some confusion, her eyebrow raised.

"I'm a jealous, envious bitch… My friends are getting happier, and I'm just getting more and more bitter. No one loves me… They're all just going to leave me behind…" Saten began to cry into the table in a way that only someone who has had far too many drinks could, and Frenda frowned, crawling around the table and almost falling over as she did, using the nearby bed that was next to the table for balance.

"Yer not shitty, stoppit. Come on." Frenda tugged at Saten's fuzzy sleeve, though Saten responded poorly, tugging the sleeve away angrily.

"No! It's true! I suck!" She yelled. "I'm just an angry bitter person, leeching off other people's happiness! I don't even care anymore… No one would wanna love me…" Saten buried her face into her sleeves as she flopped herself down onto the table again, sniffling and sobbing.

Frenda frowned as she watched Saten just spiraled down into a pit of depression and self-hatred, her scowl deepening. "Ruikoooo." She poked at Saten. "Ruikoooooooo." She poked relentlessly, unwilling to stop.

"WHAT!?" Saten looked up, snapping at Frenda, her eyes burning at the older blonde teen, and was shocked when the flushed drunk girl jumped on her and pinned her to the ground by both her wrists and her lips.

Saten made several squealing sounds of alarmed protest and surprise as Frenda gave her a rather sloppy kiss. The grips on her wrists released almost instantly, smooth palms sliding down Saten's arms in a way that made her shiver.

"See?" Frenda whispered to her, Saten's eyes wide and her face burning in a way that made her feel alive. Saten was panting for air as she was finally given the chance to breathe, her expression one of wild flustered panic as she stared up at Frenda.

"I like you, Ruiko. I like you, a lot. " Frenda purred out in an aggressive fashion, her cheeks burning with a blush that was almost cute if she wasn't so intimidating, that Saten was not sure how to respond to. She felt Frenda's weight on her stomach, felt skin against skin that she'd never felt, a stark reminder that neither of them were wearing anything under those fuzzy robes, as Frenda reached over and took a mouthful of some of the harder liquor from a scary looking bottle that Saten had only briefly sampled, leaning down and kissing Saten again, slipping a small amount, bit by bit, into Saten's mouth until Frenda's own was empty.

Saten found herself lying motionless under Frenda, paralyzed from shock, her head swimming. Frenda was clearly beyond drunk, and Saten knew she was as well. Saten felt Frenda's hands that had paused in their roaming at her shoulders begin to drift once more, pausing momentarily at the folds of her robes to flick them open with her wrists, and find new homes on a pair of almost fully developed orbs that had never been touched by someone besides Saten, prompting Saten to let out a loud cry of surprise as her back arched, but was kept firmly from leaving the floor by a surprisingly strong pair of arms.

"I'm going to do things now, fun things, and I'm not going to stop until you say no, stop, or some variation." Frenda purred quietly into Saten's ear, her hands squeezing down on their new prizes, Saten feeling her eyes go wider as her body shivered, gasps of air escaping from her mouth in quick, confused, excited gasps. "Kay, Ruiko-chan?"

Saten… didn't know how to respond, before Frenda mashed their lips together once again.

* * *

Light peeked through the hotel balcony window, forcing Saten from her sleep, and unfortunately, that wakefulness was quickly joined by a truly MIND SHATTERING PAIN. Oh by all that was unholy and cruel, this was what a hangover was? It felt like a jackhammer was being taken to the very core of her brain.

What had happened last night? Everything was kind of blurry. She vaguely remembered having a breakdown when talking to Frenda after drinking way, way too much. Frenda was right, it was like borrowing happiness from tomorrow. It felt like she had a giant weight on top of her. A heavy, wiggling weight. With a groan, she dared to crack an eye open, the room mercifully dark except for that slight amount of sunlight peeking through the gap in the curtains. She had somehow found her way onto the bed, buried under the warm comforter, and with great effort, managed to crane her head downward. Her eyes widening as far as they could go with the eye strain, she found that the wiggling weight was the still sleeping Frenda that was sprawled out on top of her.

The sleeping, naked, cuddling Frenda. Oh god, what had happened last night? Oh god, she was naked too. And she was so, so sore. Everything was so blurry and hazy. She didn't have long to really to ponder on it before Frenda yawned and stirred from sleep, pushing herself up, the comforter sliding over her back a bit, the cold leaving just a bit too little to the imagination than Saten was comfortable at the moment.

"Morning, Ruiko." Frenda grinned down at her, Saten just lying down there staring up at her with a blushing face.

"M-morning…" She said in barely a whisper. Frenda just giggled before sliding off of her, stretching as she sat at the edge of the bed, Saten turning her head to watch her as the younger teenager laid sprawled out naked in the bed. At the moment, Saten felt like one of those delinquent teens that more well-behaved students gossiped and whispered about at school- getting wasted and having sex at hotels. Because that… was… literally what just happened.

"Oh my god, that is literally what just happened." Saten suddenly said aloud, covering her face suddenly. Frenda turned and gave her a questioning look, eyebrow raised. No explanation forthcoming, she just shrugged and got up and walked over to the bathroom to take a shower.

"You seem like you're doing a bit better, so how about we go out shopping today? We can go looking for more of those Indian Poker cards you've been getting all into lately!" She shouted, seeming far, far more at ease than Saten was, and Saten was unsure whether that made her more or less anxious. "I saw you actually had a couple in your bag already. Something about chopsticks, or something?"

"Um, I… Yeah, that sounds… Oh my head…" Saten grabbed at her temple, the pain throbbing like a sledgehammer kept cracking at it repeatedly.

"Oh, yeah, you're not a drinker, are ya? We'll have errand boy grab you something and help you ride that out for a few hours first." She shouted from the bathroom.

"Don't worry, hot stuff... " Frenda peeked her head out of the bathroom, tossing Saten a mischievous and affectionate grin. "I'll take care of ya, in my own way. You can go have a chat with yer friends when yer ready." She grinned.

Saten really could not place why, but for some reason, Saten did find that… oddly comforting. And did find Frenda herself, just as comforting, again, quite, quite oddly.

Because if Frenda was anything. It was odd.

* * *

"Is that info from a reliable source?" Said the man in the chair with the strange headgear, circular in design, wires emanating from it and attached to dozens of server towers around him. He was a gaunt, sloppily dressed man.

"Who knows?" Said the voice over the phone, a seductive voice that cried one of temptation. The gaunt man groaned.

"But if there is even the SLIGHTEST chance, we have to investigate. You know how he gets. We wouldn't want to make him upset." She added, the gaunt man grimacing. He knew how true that was, shivering at the memory of the one time he challenged his now-master. "I'll leave that to you. Now get on it, would you?" And without another word, she clicked the phone.

With another annoyed groan, he slouched over in his chair, folding his hands in his lap.

"Search all information with security ranks A through D out there… and extract all conversations with suspected connection to Indian Poker and the subject matter at hand…"

He felt trillions of bytes of data flowing through his server towers, before he finally felt a few instances of relevant bits fly past him grasping at what he wanted. As he forwarded those bits toward his boss, he got a reply back almost instantly.

 _Don't disappoint me again._


	15. Chapter 15 - The Devil, Upright

After a few hours of resting, a bit of some of Frenda's personal form of hangover treatment(which involved a disgusting cocktail that for some reason involved orange juice and a raw egg among other things), and a long, cold shower, Saten was far more fit for public appearance. Frenda was remarkably gentle with her, letting her rest and generally not doing much beyond lounge around the hotel room and occasionally wandering out to get snacks from the vending machine and watching TV on low volume while Saten tried to lay down and let the hangover blow over, wrapped in a cocoon of a comforter. Her phone was dead, so she wasn't sure if anyone had tried to contact her since the other day, though the dark voices in her head kept telling her no one would have bothered.

Shiage, as she now officially knew the young man's name, eventually showed up with some fresh clothes for her after Frenda got her sizes, as her previous nights clothes were still soaked beyond wearability. Frenda chased him out of the room after he dropped off the clothes, crawling onto the bed where Saten was currently cocooned in the comforter.

"How you feeling?" She asked, pulling some of the blanket back to look at her face. Saten let out a minor groan at her.

"Better…" she admitted quietly. She held the comforter closer to her body, feeling remarkably vulnerable, especially since Frenda was dressed and she wasn't. Frenda smiled at her and pet her head.

"Wanna go shopping then?" She gave a large toothy grin at the girl. "Or… could always go for round two…" Frenda purred at her. Saten found herself squeaking out in surprise as she felt Frenda's hand had suddenly found itself having snaked into the comforter and found itself resting on her abs faster than she could even notice.

"Damn girl, your abs are rock solid." Frenda admired, momentarily distracted as her hand began to caress and feel up poor flustered Saten's physique, her eyes glancing down at the blanket where the said abs were concealed.

"Shopping! Shopping sounds great!" Saten said quickly, blushing fiercely and slightly panicky. Frenda giggled loudly, leaning over and kissing Saten's cheek before pulling her hand back.

"Then you better get dressed." Frenda said, pointing at where the new clothes were folded by the heater. Saten wiggled her way over to them, using the comforter as a shield, Frenda giggling the whole time as she watched the bashful Saten do her best to hide herself from Frenda.

"You know, Ruiko. There really isn't much point in hiding from me. I've seen just about every inch of you." Frenda said, and there was a kind of unintelligible noise from the comfortable lump.

"J-just shut up!" Saten grumbled, sounding beyond embarrassed as she got dressed under the blanket, wiggling her way out, dressed in a sweater and long skirt and flats, her face burning red. Frenda gave her a thumbs of approval as she stepped out.

"Lookin' good." Frenda said with approval, tugging her phone out and checking it real quick, sending out a quick text before giving her attention back to Saten. "Ready?"

Saten gave her a bit of a nod, still shifting around a little and nursing a slight headache, grabbing a couple more painkillers from the table and taking them, hoping they'd ease the headache. She met Frenda at the door who handed her a water bottle.

"Drink." She winked at her as she led her out the door. "Come on, sexy."

* * *

Frenda was, admittedly, confused. Above all else, with herself. Sure, she liked to look out for her friends, and she liked helping people. Just like she liked money! And sex. And beer. And life's little pleasures. Like nice clothes. And explosives.

But as she watched Ruiko kneel down at a street vendors goods and browse the Indian Poker cards available, pondering with her weird tastes what she might want, she genuinely wonder what in the world she was doing. She had already gone to some pretty extreme measures to help Ruiko out, taking her to one of ITEM's safehouses to rest and recover, and then having a wild night of sex and drinking, and maintaining their friendship even after finding out how close her relationship with Railgun was.

She was a security liability. The most basic, logical course of action after finding out her connection with someone that dangerous would have been to sever all ties and ghost her, or leave her at the bottom of the harbor.

The problem was, the first thought she didn't want to do, and the second thought made her want to vomit, and filled her with disgusted self-loathing. She thought after all these years of hard and brutal practice she'd long since managed to push her conscience firmly out of her mind, but apparently that was not the case. It wasn't like Frenda was some kind of baby-choking monster, ITEM wasn't typically hired to kill weaklings, they were way too expensive for that. They were hired to go after some of the deadliest and most vicious killers in this city.

Didn't mean that Frenda didn't accept that the bodies Frenda had left behind in her wake didn't have families. Or friends. Or people they cared about. Everyone did. Everyone…

"Frenda?"

Frenda's head snapped up out of her train of thought as she looked at Ruiko's face. Up at her face, that is. Goddamn was that girl tall. Frenda stood at about five feet and a few inches, but Ruiko… god damn, girl. Frenda had to crane her neck a bit.

"Hey, zoned out a bit. Find something you like?" She asked, smirking up at her, putting on her cheerful smile.

"Yeah, several. A few urban legend scenario's, this one supposedly teaches you how to be a pro rock-paper-scissors player, another one is awesome for hop-scotch, and this one is supposed to teach you to be fluent in Norwegian!" She explained as she sorted through them. That last one caught her attention.

"Norwegian?" Frenda raised an eyebrow at her. Ruiko blushed a bit and glanced away.

"Well, you know, you're from Norway, so I thought it'd be kind of cool to learn it…" She muttered quietly as she tucked the cards away into her pocket, looking a bit bashful.

"You're so precious." Frenda snickered at her, moving to her tiptoes to reach and kissing Ruiko's cheek. Before Ruiko could respond, Frenda slipped away, moving further down the street. It didn't take long for her to catch up with Frenda, who had paused to window shop at a random clothing store. Ruiko stopped next to her, looking into the window, biting her lip, uncertain as she shifted around on her feet, tugging at the sleeve of her sweater anxiously. Frenda was mostly pretending not to notice as she watched out of the corner of her eye. Why was she so anxious all of a sudden? Was she teasing her too much?

"H-hey Frenda." Ruiko said quietly, glancing down at older teenager. "Um… Can we… talk about last night?"

"Hm? Sure. What do you wanna talk about?" Frenda offered, shifting her attention back over to Ruiko, moving to hug her from behind. Ruiko visibly stiffened as she did this. It was just another move from her playbook, something Frenda did on instinct. It was actually a bit weird that she was attracted to Ruiko at all. She was typically only in to older women, but Ruiko was so tall and developed, maybe that was why. A slight shrug was all the thought she gave it as she pressed her face into Ruiko's back and placed a hand against her abs again, caressing them a bit inappropriately.

Ruiko, to her credit, didn't let up. "W-what is this? What are we? Like… Is this going to be something?" Ruiko asked quietly. Part of Frenda realized that, in her drunken state, she may have made an error in judgement. She might not have jumped Ruiko's bones had she been sober. Still, she HIGHLY doubted Ruiko wanted anything from her, especially something as insane as a relationship(who would date her?)- she just didn't want to hear from Frenda that Frenda was just using her as a one-stop-shop for a good time like a slut when she was emotionally vulnerable. Which to be fair, was absolutely not what she bad been intending! Frenda just got a bit… horny when she drank. Which in retrospect, she really should have considered before getting hammered. Hindsight was twenty-twenty. Shiage should have reminded her. So, really, wasn't this his fault?

"Well, Ruiko, do you want it to be something?" Frenda asked gingerly, squeezing her around her abs, letting the question hang. There, that was open ended. Now all Ruiko had to do was tell her no. "I mean, I wasn't using yo-" She began to say softly, but was cut off by Ruiko who blurted out something that froze Frenda mid-sentence.

"WhatifIdo?" Ruiko said suddenly, so fast that the words blended together. Frenda just found herself frozen entirely, capable of doing nothing but rapidly blinking as she replayed those words in her head.

"Um… huh?" Frenda finally managed to get out, looking up at the back of Ruiko's head. Ruiko didn't turn to look at her, she was just stiff and shaking.

"U-um, h-hey, I think there's a diner down there, I'm gonna go see if there's any room for us to sit down!" And with that, Ruiko dashed down and out of Frenda's grasp, leaving a stunned blonde in the middle of the sidewalk with her jaw hanging down. Frenda had… had not been expecting that. This whole day had just gotten a lot more confusing and a lot more surprising. She turned and rubbed the back of her head, trying to think of what to do, what to say to process this… and was immediately distracted.

A pair of men were walking down the sidewalk in her direction. Professionals. She leaned forward to admire the goods in the window as a spare hand went underneath her skirt, reaching into nothingness as a pair of pyramid shaped explosives appeared where there had originally been nothing but air. Rival agency? Maybe. She braced herself as they got nearer to her… Nearer…

And they passed. Good. She sighed a bit, happy that her little day out with Ruiko wasn't going to be spoiled by having to blow some idiots faces off. She stood up a bit straighter as she turned to look toward the girl in question who was standing by the front window of the diner she'd mentioned. She looked a bit flustered still, like some goofy dork. Frenda let her guard relax as she found herself smiling. Smiling like some idiot. Today was so weird.

"Oh, Ruiko-" It all happened in an instant. A passing van turned off the street and onto the sidewalk in front of Ruiko. The two men she'd pegged as professionals both pulled gas rebreathers out and covered their faces as one pulled a can out and sprayed Ruiko in the face- she was out in an instant.

Frenda was over fifty feet away. She wasn't close enough for any of her small explosives to be in range, and any longer range ones risked blowing Ruiko apart. As they grabbed Ruiko and pulled her into the van, three words echoed in her minds, three words she'd heard so many years ago but still haunted her almost every night she didn't drink.

" _Take Fremea! Run!"_

Frenda felt her eyes go wide with unfathomable rage in an instant. Her phone was in her hand before she knew it.

"SHIAGE! CAR! 35TH STREET! NOW!" She barked, feeling that murderous urge building up inside of her as she watched that van tear off down the road.

* * *

Ruiko's head was swimming as she tried to focus her thoughts, but all she could remember was something getting sprayed in her face and then her vision just getting thrown into a wash machine with how much it was tossing and turning.

She heard men around her, but couldn't make out what they were saying, and primordial fear filled her. What were their intentions? What were they going to do to her?

Those thoughts filled her mind for longer than she could bear before they were interrupted by an ear-splitting explosion. Shouts and screams filled the air, and Ruiko could only wonder what was happening…

* * *

"DIE DIE DIE!" Frenda was not in a merciful mood as she crushed a man's neck up against the side of the van with her secretly steel-reinforced shoe, pinning him against it as he gurgled. She threw one of her pyramid shaped explosives to her side as one man turned the corner around the van, catching the small burst right in the face, making a gurgling sound as he fell onto the ground, clutching at the remnants of what was once his face.

Pulling her foot back and letting the man drop, she leaped into the back of the van, spotting Ruiko. She leaned down and looked her over. "Good, at least the kidnappers weren't also rapist scumbags. Or at least, not yet." She hissed. She pulled off the blindfold, tugging out one of her explosive sharp pens, popping the chain of the handcuffs around her wrists as Ruiko began to come too.

"W-what's going on?" She said drowsily, Frenda pulling her out of the van.

"No idea!" Frenda admitted, wondering what in the world a professional organization might want with Ruiko of all people. She wasn't exactly high on the list of priority targets. Hostage to get at Railgun? Yeah, maybe. Seemed flimsy though. "Come on, let's walk the sedative out of your system." Frenda hurried her out of the construction zone Frenda had managed to pin the van into with some well-timed hand-propelled missiles. Shiage had to take the long way around after he'd driven her here and his car had served as her missile platform on the above highway.

"W-what happened?" Ruiko asked tiredly as she looked around through the dust and smoke that filled the area, trying to focus as she saw human figures lying on the ground.

"Violence." Frenda said flatly as she pulled Ruiko along angrily. Ruiko's eyes widened as she began to focus, though she was quickly pulled out of sight of the bodies before she got a good look.

"Frenda! Were those, were those people-?" She asked in a gasp as they got onto the street, quickly disappearing into the crowd.

"Probably." Frenda said with just as much flatness as before. "Come on, we need to get you somewhere safe. They aren't going to give up that easily." She said, her eyes darting around as they vanished further into the crowds.

"B-but why?" Ruiko asked as they disappeared into a sprawling shopping complex, keeping pace with ease, her strides longer than Frenda's.

"You don't kidnap someone in broad daylight like that and just give up because some underlings get whacked, trust me. I have some places you can lie low-"

"Why did you kill those people, Frenda!?" Ruiko snapped, thankfully the crowds too loud during the holiday season to hear her. Frenda paused in her strides.

"Look around you, Ruiko. What do you see?" She asked, her tone harsh. Their hands were still together, and Frenda could feel Ruiko's hand shaking. "I see people living carefree lives, pretending this city is pure and pretty and free and nice and CLEAN. Pretending this city isn't what it IS. Disgusting and ugly and a prison and cruel and FILTHY." Frenda had her head bowed, her eyes concealed in the shadow of her bangs, partially facing away from Ruiko.

"I killed them because this city has made me what I am, Ruiko." Frenda turned to fully face her, looking up at her. "I am a monster who kills people, because this city is a totalitarian hellhole where every person is either ignorant of reality, or forced to find some semblance of comfort in this torture we have to endure in the name of progress as those in power have decided progress is going to go. We're slaves, Ruiko. We don't get to choose in any meaningful way. We can only grab at our small creature comforts they let us have, and poke at our little acts of rebellion they let us have so that we better obey." Frenda paused in her self-pitying monologue to lean forward before she chuckled, before bursting into a full out laugh.

"Oh geez, look at me, letting myself get all worked up. Whatever, it doesn't matter." She threw some hair out of her face, smiling once again.

"I killed them because I wanted to help you. That's all. If I hadn't, they likely would have just dumped your corpse in the harbor once they were done with you. This city does that sort of thing to people."

"B-but… why me?" Ruiko said softly, staring down at the ground, their hands still holding, Ruiko's hand still shaking. Frenda stared up at her, trying to think of what to say. She opened her mouth to respond. Searing pain followed.

Ruiko's head shot up as something warm splattered across her face. Her free hand reached up and touched her cheek, pulling away and looking as she saw the red liquid that had struck it.

Frenda stumbled as she looked down at the bullet hole that had just carved its way through her left shoulder, the opposite shoulder from the holding hand.

"Oh… fuck…" Frenda cursed, sweat pouring down her brow. "RUN!"

* * *

There was something surreal about running through a holiday season shopping mall filled with smiling faces that were briskly unaware of a sniper hunting a pair of teenage girls. Frenda was trailing blood behind her and was more and more relying on Ruiko as she grew weaker.

"Shit, shit, shit…" Frenda cursed as they continued to run. "Quick, in here!" Frenda quickly turned into the toy store, diving into one of the aisles. Her left arm hung uselessly, strength devoid from it after the blood loss. "I haven't spotted anything." Frenda grimaced. She'd been trying to find sniper kill zones since she'd started taking fire, but so far had had no luck whatsoever.

"What do we do?" Ruiko asked next to her, both of them staying low in the aisle as Frenda peeked out.

"Play dirty." Frenda said, pulling a stuffed animal out of her skirt and placing it down onto the shelf, attaching a wire to it and connecting the wire to the other end of the shelving.

"RUN!" Frenda said, pushing Ruiko with one hand as they dashed. The pair sprinted out a side entrance of the department of the mall. Ruiko followed her lead, dashing through several other departments and stores, up and down emergency staircases.

"This is so weird! We haven't even seen them! How do we know they are still on to us? Or that we're making any progress!?" Ruiko yelled, panting as they slowed down. They were high up now, one of the more sparsely populated levels of the mall, a large stone railing circling an enormous hole opening looking down at the central plaza.

"Kind of the downside to fighting a sniper." Frenda gasped out, not looking so hot from the blood dripping down her arm, the loss of blood draining her significantly. The pair walked a few steps before Frenda paused in terror. Ruiko followed her eyes, spotting a doll sitting on the railing. The same doll she'd placed in the toy store.

"RUIKO GET DO-" A bullet whizzed through the doll, but no explosion came, instead a bullet collided into Frenda's right ear, sending her onto the ground grinding her teeth in pain. Ruiko dove onto the ground trying to avoid further fire.

"I don't know who this fucker is, but I HATE THEM." Frenda hissed, clutching her shredded ear.

"Frenda… you need to leave." Ruiko whispered quietly. Frenda froze as she stared at Ruiko. Ruiko looked determined as she stared back at Frenda.

"They're after me. You need to run away. I'll run in the opposite direction. You run away. OK?" Ruiko stared at her, and Frenda could only scowl at her, getting angry.

"You're stupid, they're going to just fucking kill you-"

"Please." Ruiko said in a begging voice. "Please, just let my life be worth something. You've killed people, but I have too, and I somehow felt I had the right to judge you. So please… just let me do this." Frenda felt that spark of anger in her chest again and she was not having this self-pitying bullshit. She grabbed Ruiko by her sweaters neck and pulled her down to the ground and kissed her. She held it for as long as she felt comfortable that she wasn't going to get shot in the head.

"Look, bitch. We're gonna have a long, stupid conversation after this about your self-pitying bullshit. For now, we've got a sniper to explode into bloody chunks." She used Ruiko to force herself onto her feet, pulling Ruiko toward the emergency stairs again quickly, ducking as she felt bullets whiz past her hairline. With some effort, and some close calls, they made it there.

As they took a moment in the dark stairway, with nothing but the redlight to keep them company, she looked to Ruiko as she shoved an armful of something at her.

"Now here's what we're going to do…"

* * *

Yumiya Rakko was not the type of girl you would mistake for someone dangerous. She smiled as she blended with the holiday crowds, browsing the various gifts and present supplies that all the smiling children were so cheerfully begging their parents for.

All while hunting her prey with the most sadistic of glee.

She felt the pressurized-air-powered collapsible rifle attached to her back that she used for her sniping. She'd been hunting those two girls for the better part of three hours, and she had so enjoyed the anguish on their faces. She had been told to keep the younger one intact if possible. But her master didn't need them alive, only their heads if it was impossible. Still… it was best not to displease him. He was… easily angered.

Nonetheless, that mad bomber girl was so reckless. Constantly trying to blow her up, nearly uncaring who she might catch in the crossfire, but so messy and sloppy. The blood loss must be getting to her. Oh, she was going to drag this out a bit longer. Maybe take out all her limbs, make her crawl and beg for death… that sounded fun.

If her nose was right- and it always was- then the girls had migrated down to the ground floor, likely trying to make for the street. She'd herd them back toward the center, leave them crying in despa-

Wait… one of them had circled back? They were… She had lost them. That could only mean they were headed toward her. Why would they head BACK toward her? Were they suicidal? It was no matter.

She brushed her brunette hair back as she waited and watched for her prey to make their way to her… Oh. Oh no.

It was the younger teen. The primary target. And she was carrying an armful of… dolls. Of those dolls. Of those highly explosive dolls that freak bomber had been planting all over the mall! Her eyes widened as she saw the timer on them, clicking away, and on pure instinct dove away behind a pillar as they moved toward zero. She covered her ears and waited, and nothing happened. Only as she waited did she realize her mistake.

"Oh no…"

"FOUND YOU!"

The sniper turned to see said angry mad bomber rushing at her, leaping into the air, and planting both steel-reinforced steel boots into her face. Rakko staggered back as she slammed into the ground, her precious nose firmly shattered as she rolled onto the ground. Staggering onto her feet, she didn't have long to rest before she found a fist firmly planted into her gut. This one came from the younger, taller girl, and at that moment, Rakko instantly regretted not disabling that girl.

She was a young, amateurish, inexperienced girl. She had no idea how to throw a punch or fight. But her stomach did not know that, as she hit with all the force her superior height and strength gave her as Rakko collapsed and vomited up the liquid in her stomach. She forced herself to move, diving out of the way of several pyramid shaped explosives thrown by Frenda, landing in a large fountain at the center of the plaza. She dove out, trying to aim her arm at one of the girls, trying to align her rifle in time.

"TIME TO DIE, BITCH!" Frenda roared as she tossed every stuffed animal that Ruiko had been carrying at the stunned sniper. The sniper just looked confused why she was throwing the decoys, her eyes widening with realization.

"EXACTLY!" Frenda pulled out a detonator, revealing that while the timers were duds- the bombs most definitely were not. With a click of a button, a deafening explosion echoed through the building as water sprayed in every direction.

The explosion echoed through the room for awhile as the victorious pair slowly felt that adrenaline rush pump through them, turning to grin at each other. Victory was so sweet.

Until stolen, at least.

Watery steps were heard, causing both to turn, as their enemy staggered out of the cloud of smoke. Her arm was mangled, and half her face was entirely blown off it seemed.

"How the fuck are you even still alive!?" Frenda asked in pure disbelief.

"You think death scares me more than my master?" She said, slowly raising a revolver she had pulled from behind her back, her shoulder mounted rifle damaged beyond use. Her hand was shaky, looking like she was barely able to stand, let alone fight. "I… cannot… fail…" She said in gurgling, labored gasps. Frenda and Ruiko stiffened as they readied themselves, Frenda herself looking like she was about to collapse onto the ground herself.

"I do think that is enough, Yumiya." Said a flat, annoyed voice.

All the angry, determined bravado to kill them, in an instant, vanished from the sniper. She dropped the revolver onto the ground as her body began to shake violently. Not out of weakness or pain, but pure, utter terror. A young man, likely a bit older than Frenda, walked out of the smoke. He was dressed in dark brown dress pants and coat, with a black dress shirt. A handsome man, approachable even. His expression was fairly neutral as he checked his cell phone before he tucked it away.

He stopped next to the sniper who seemed frozen in place, her eyes frozen wide in terror, tears streaming down her face as she dared not look at the man who'd just arrived.

"S-Sir, I… I can-" she began to say, before the man glanced at her.

"Are you still making me deal with you?" He said coldly, his eyes looking deadly. Those words alone made her breath catch in her threat before she seemed to freeze, and her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she seemed to collapse and lose consciousness out of raw fear.

Ruiko and Frenda could only stare at the display, fear tainting both of them. Who was this man who could inspire such terror in someone with just a look?

"Now then. You two." He turned his attention to the battered and beaten Ruiko and Frenda.

"You will be coming along so I can find out what you know." He stated simply, sliding one hand into his pocket. His expression looked almost bored.

"Uh, how about go fuck yourself?" Frenda offered in exchange, starting to back away toward one of the large holes in the walls that had been made during her explosive detonations. Ruiko mirrored her motion, sliding her feet backward, preparing to dash toward Frenda to grab her and run- she didn't think Frenda could run much in her current state.

"That was not a question. That was not an offer. That was a statement of reality." The man said in a cold, brutal voice." He raised his unpocketed hand, and as he did so, Ruiko could have sworn she saw wings behind him. In an instant, out of seemingly thin air, bone-white cabling seemed to conjure forth out of the nothingness just above the man and launch toward them, writhing around to grab at them.

This was it. They were done for. There was nothing they could do. And at that moment, Ruiko and Frenda both felt it- static… and heat.

First a massive thunderclap rang through the air, and concrete blasted apart as something faster than the eye could see blew apart the cabling aiming for Ruiko, arcs of electricity trailing behind the projectile as it crashed into the wall behind the man and decimating it.

And just milliseconds after, the stone above Frenda melted apart into molten slag, an emerald beam of light searing through and incinerating the intruding ivory appendage into charcoal as a new hole was pierced through the building.

The girls spun around as a pair of unlikely reinforcements came through, neither of them looking pleased by the sight before them, or by the individual whom they seemed to be standing beside, even if "beside" meant fifty feet from.

"Well, well, well…" The man said, smirking as he looked at the new arrival. First to his right at Ruiko and the girl behind him leaning on her forearm crutch.

"The Railgun of Tokiwadai, the girl who defeated Accelerator and Meltdowner. Misaka Mikoto, the Third Ranked Level 5 of Academy City." He smirked before turning his attention to the next, at Frenda and the woman who stood above and behind her on some rubble.

"And Meltdowner of ITEM, Mugino Shizuri, The Fourth Ranked Level 5 of Academy City." He grinned, seeming to enjoy comparing the two, if only to stoke the fires of rivalry.

"What are the odds, huh." His cheerful facade fell from his face almost instantly. "If you know what's best for you, you'll get out of my way." He said without a hint of compassion or mercy in his tone. "My ambition has no place for patience for you insects."

"Friend of yours?" Mikoto asked Mugino, who replied by flicking her brunette hair angrily and flipping the teenager off.

"Shut it, brat. I've never seen them before in my life. Who the hell do you think you are, picking fights with my subordinates?!" She summoned forth several emerald orbs floating over her shoulders, scowling down at the cocky, ambitious man.

"How rude of me… I should introduce myself."

Frenda and Ruiko had both taken the opportunity to retreat further toward the back behind the Level 5's, and toward the exit, all of them wanting to be far, far away from what instinct told them was impending disaster. And Ruiko… Ruiko just wasn't ready to face Mikoto, and had no idea how Mikoto had found her. Frenda had no idea how Mugino had found her and was not about to complain.

"I… am Kakine Teitoku." He grinned, opening his arms out wide to his sides as angelic wings seemed to conjure from his back, three on each side for six in all. "Also known as Dark Matter. I am Academy City's Second Ranked Level 5." His grin widened as he saw the alarm spread across both Mugino and Mikoto's faces.

"Do try not to die too quickly."


	16. Chapter 16 - The Magician, Reversed

Indigo adjusted his fedora as he stared down from the roof of the mall down into the plaza where the Level 2, Level 3, and Level 4 all faced off with each other, Academy City's years of cultural resentment coming to a head as they glared at each other, powers crackling to life, electricity emanating through the air, angelic wings spreading across the plaza, and emerald energy springing into existence.

Indigo's eyes fell onto Meltdowner, his grin widening. "Alright, little Mugino." His single synthetic eye opened impossibly wide as it began to glow a sickly emerald. "BEGINNING ENTANGLEMENT." His snake-like grin grew as he giggled to himself. "Let us begin your enlightenment!"

* * *

"Can we go any faster?!" Kuroko asked as she leaned up from the back seat of the car they were in. Uiharu was seated next to her typing away quickly at the laptop resting on her legs. Misaki was in the passenger seat next to the driver that seemed to work for her, a somewhat gaunt man with prominent eyelashes on the bottom-side of his eyes.

"We're going as fast as we can, not all of us can take a short-cut over buildings like Misaka can." Misaki said with some amount of impatience in her voice from up front. The past hour had this level of tension between Kuroko and Misaki as they had been making their way toward Saten after Uiharu had tracked her location to the mall after security camera had placed her being kidnapped off the street.

Kuroko flopped back into her seat, her foot bouncing on the floor anxiously as the driver recklessly swerved through traffic, occasionally glancing out his window at the cloud of dust rising in the far distance in the middle of a giant sprawl of buildings. He had to weave his way through a chaotic mess of cars and structures to make his way there. His attention flashed back to the front of the road just in time, his eyes widening as he quickly turned the wheel to stop the car as an explosion tore the highway road apart, the car grinding to a halt just barely in time.

Kuroko grabbed at the seat with her one arm as Uiharu hugged her lap to her chest and let out a cry as they nearly spun out, Misaki clenching her teeth and growling before the car finally came to a stop.

"What… was that?" Misaki groaned out as she looked up. The road in front of them was a disaster, cars thrown in every direction, the road torn apart, light poles ripped from their emplacements, the concrete dividers shattered. At the center of this disaster was a crater. In that crater, a feminine figure was approaching the car. The figure was wearing some type of bodysuit that covered the details of their identity, a steel plated mask hiding their face from view. The suit seemed inappropriately suited to their form, the small amounts of armor plating that covered various parts of their body the only thing that gave them slight bits of decency, close fitting enough that even both fingers and toes were well-defined. The only thing uncovered on their body was the neck length silvery hair blowing in the wind.

"What… is that?" Misaki groaned out as she rubbed a bleeding forehead after knocking her head against the window, leaving an unattractive blood mark.

"Trouble." Her driver and head of security said as he looked at the hollow face of the steel mask as it approached them like a soulless golem.

* * *

Ruiko caught Frenda as she tripped and nearly face-planted, pulling her up against her. Frenda as panting and her eyes looked hazy and dizzy. She had lost a lot of blood- she needed a hospital, and fast. Ruiko didn't dare look back as she heard a massive explosion and felt small pebbles strike at her back and neck as the three Level 5's engaged each other. It was like three demigods getting into a barroom brawl, it was a primordial fear that shook her to her core.

"Don't die, Frenda, please don't die." Ruiko muttered, Frenda just panting next to her. Ruiko limped through a massive hole in the concrete wall that had been blown, carefully jumping down the four foot drop into some bushes. Crawling out of the brush while pulling Frenda onto her back, she limped out onto the well-kempt lawn of the mall, and onto the street and sidewalks and chaos was. People had fled the from the explosions of the titans behind her, and she could hardly blame them.

"HEY! HEY KID!"

She knew that voice. Quickly looking around, she spotted Shiage, the blonde guy Frenda kept bullying. He dashed up to her, panting a bit, looking frazzled.

"This has been a hell of a day, I figured something had gone horribly wrong when Frenda hadn't bothered to call back and everything started to explode, so I got a hold of the boss. I mean, either that, or it was Tuesday and Frenda was bored. Seriously, she looks like shit." Shiage leaned forward to look at her and got rewarded by Frenda lurching to life to punch him in the face. He promptly fell over, clutching his nose, groaning.

"Screw you, fuckface…" She groaned into Ruiko's shoulder, her eyes still hazy and half-conscious. Shiage rubbed his nose as he got himself off the ground and looked around, scowling.

"Let's move… We need to get her somewhere where she won't bleed out." He groans, staggering his way over to a car, Ruiko following, feeling like her legs were just moving on her own, lost in the chaos of the moment, not even thinking about what to do. She didn't have the presence of mind to consider her actions, or who she was with or listening to.

She just acted.

* * *

Never had two hated enemies made a truce so quickly. Meltdowner and Railgun both threw up their respective signature attacks and launched them at Dark Matter in an unrestrained attack, shockwaves emanating from them as the floor carved out from under them, just barely in time. Teitoku's wings glimmered and shined in a holy and angelic fashion that in no way matched the dark soul they belonged to, light from the setting sun refracting through them to form bizarre lances of brilliant energy that twisted and warmed, curving from the wings on each side toward each of his enemies.

Colliding with the Railgun fired from Mikoto and the barrage of Meltdowner beams from Mugino, the intense backlash unleashed a shockwave that sent debris flying in every direction.

Mugino threw her arms up to shield her eyes, trying to get line of sight on that smug little prick, suddenly finding a pressure around her waist as some metal cabling from the wall suddenly wrapped around her, pulling her from her perch on the pile of rubble and yanked her away. Just in time, as an enormous… something… crushed where she had been standing. She found herself land roughly on the ground several yards away next to Mikoto, who had sent herself flying backwards with her magnetism, panting, her own rubble perched demolished.

"I didn't ask for your help, brat!" Mugino hissed as she stood up.

"You're welcome." Mikoto hissed, looking up as a gust of wind blew through the husk of a building, showing the arrogant smile of Teitoku floating in the air, his wings shimmering as it seemed to levitate him. Where the pair had previously been standing, a pair of massive ivory-white truck-sized beetles now stood, chittering, shifting around and moving toward them slowly.

"What kind of absurd power do you even have?" Mikoto objected, floored by just how… ridiculous this was. Beams of light? Flight? Conjuration of inanimate objects? Animate construct creation? His power was more diverse than Accelerators. This was ABSURD.

"STOP ZONING OUT YOU BRAT!" Meltdowner conjured forth six emerald orbs over her head- two more than she'd had when they'd fought, Mikoto noted, strafing beams over the approaching beetles, which screeched as the beams scorched them and the ground, an explosion rocking the building as Mikoto's vision filled with fire, the glowing lines where the beams had strafed bursting forth into a conflagration of energy.

"Or just run away. I don't need you." She scoffed, brushing her hair aside, staring into the enormous inferno that now consumed the majority of the building. She strode forth, her eyes scanning for her opponent.

"It's so cute that you think that." Teitoku's voice echoed over the flames before a rumbling sound was heard. Mugino looked up and with wide eyes, saw a calm, grinning angel holding a mass of debris and stone ripped from the walls and floors of the mall with conjured ivory wires. Snapping his fingers, they unfolded, launching themselves down like angry serpents, an avalanche of rubble and cables aiming for the wide-eyed Meltdowner.

And above, the observer grinned as he pulled out his phone and dialed his instructions to his protege.

"Make sure they are not interrupted. Misaki needs to stay alive. The rest can die."

* * *

"EVERYONE OUT!" The driver roared, everyone piling out of the car as the masked figure leaped at the car, everyone managing just in time as the figure's hand touched the hood. It happened in an instant, the car seemed to simply burst apart, shrapnel flying in every direction.

Kuroko dove on top of Uiharu, the head of security pulling Misaki under him, taking several shrapnel into the back with a growl. Kuroko managed to catch a few in the arm, and at that moment, appreciated the metallic form of it. Not even a scratch as it all deflected off. They turned to look at the monster they now faced, seeing it literally holding the engine block in her hand before dropping it with a crash onto the ground.

"What… the hell is that power?" Kuroko gasped out, scrambling to her feet and pulling Uiharu up with her, the girl looking terrified. Misaki got up, and saw the golem approaching Kuroko and Uiharu. Kuroko looked to Misaki and for a moment, her Judgement instincts took over.

"Uiharu and I were in Judgement, we can handle-" She began to say, but was cut off.

"Take Uiharu and run!" Misaki shouted, pulling out a remote and pointing it at the masked figure, her expression looking cold. "Don't look away from me, you monster. Stay away from her." She hissed. "Now, choke until you lose consciousness." She clicked a button on her remote, as she pointed it at the masked figure, the figure seeming to pay her no mind at all as it stalked toward the two other girls. As she hit the button, there was a pause, before Misaki dropped the remote and her eyes went wide in panic and terror.

Her hands went to her throat as she seemingly tried to gasp for air, drool going down her chin as her gloved fingers clawed at her throat, her eyes twisting in confusion.

"But?! How!?" She mouthed silently, before her eyes moved to Kuroko and Uiharu. Kuroko had to grab Uiharu's wrist as Uiharu began to make a dash for Misaki, tears in her eyes.

"RUN!" She mouthed.

* * *

"What?! What's going?" Shiage yelled into the phone as he swerved through traffic in ways Ruiko was absolutely sure was illegal, but everything was so chaotic, she had no idea what was going on. People were outside screaming, and there were fires in the streets. It was reminded her of Treefall, but mercifully, of much, much smaller scale, across the District. It was like everything had suddenly gone mad. She was in the backseat, trying to make sure that Frenda didn't go into shock, occasionally slapping her cheek and talking to her, Frenda mumbling responses in often nonsensical ways.

"What? Our subordinate agency was attacked? What the fuck?" Shiage yelled into the phone, before shouting obscenities at someone on the road as he swerved out of the way of someone else. "What the fuck is going on!?"

* * *

Mugino unleashed a barrage of emerald beams at the onslaught of attacks falling toward her, but knew she could not get them all. Mercifully, she did not have to, as the cabling found itself entangled in the metallic cables that ripped themselves from the walls and wrapped themselves in the falling debris, swinging like a pendulum up at Teitoku, who seemed momentarily surprised as he was sent flying into a wall as the makeshift weapon swung like a wrecking ball.

"Don't need me, huh?" Mugino swung her rage-filled eyes at Mikoto, who was balancing on her forearm crutch, one arm extended as she used magnetic fields to create weapons out of the debris of the building.

Mugino didn't dignify that with a response, instead spinning around and raising a finger to send an enormous ray of energy at where Teitoku had landed, melting a hole through the building and into the sky, hoping to vaporize the smug little prick.

"Whoa, hey!" Mikoto grimaced, the part of her that had morals objecting to the brutality Mugino was showing. The older woman paid her no mind whatsoever as she unleashed several more large blasts, leaving nothing but an enormous several story high hole in the side of the building of molten slag.

"There. Dead." she hissed, turning to look at the younger girl, growl as she realized that Mikoto had grown taller than her over the last year. "As for you…"

"Is that really the best you two can do?"

The pair spun toward the source of the voice, down lower, as they saw light emerge from the fiery smoke at the ground level. From it, emerged Dark Matter himself, wrapped in the wings he seemed to favor so much. His face was slightly burnt, an eye squeezed shut. The wind left behind in his wake showed he had melted through the building down to ground level to avoid the attacks from Mugino, using the wings as a shield to endure the first one she'd launched, though not entirely without harm it seemed, the right half of his face slightly burnt.

"Time to die." He raised his hand, a black ball of… something appearing before his outstretched hand. Mikoto's electromagnetic senses were going wild from just feeling it, and she acted on instinct, reaching into her pocket and pulling out something she'd kept in reserve- something she'd been holding onto for months- a rifle round. "MELTDOWNER- SAME TIME!" She yelled, holding up the round, charging up her railgun, feeling the voltage rising as she pulled it from within her, and from without as she pulled from the electrical grid.

"DON'T GIVE ME ORDERS!" Meltdowner screamed as she raised her first two fingers, an emerald glowing globe of energy forming at the tip, five emerald orbs forming behind her in a halo of support, as she stood side-by-side with her nemesis, her teeth grinding as the air began to sizzle and steam, the building around them groaning in strain at the growing pressure from the trio of demigods faced off in a contest of raw might.

"Do you seriously think-" Dark Matter began, but the women before him were tired of the smugness.

"SHUT-" Mikoto began.

"-UP!" Mugino finished.

* * *

"Victory has never been so sweet…" Indigo laughed as he leaped from his perch, disappearing from the air and landing far away on an adjacent building. "Finish your work, and leave. Mission success." He grinned as he spoke across his phone.

* * *

On the highway, Kuroko pushed Uiharu to the ground and interjected herself between her and the enemy, doing the only thing she could- escape was impossible. She swung a punch with her metal arm, aiming right for the metal mask, only to have her fist caught without effort by the feminine figure, a loud ringing sound echoing through the air as the figure held on to the fist. The figure seemed… confused for a moment as they tilted their head at Kuroko's fist, as though they were expecting something different to occur.

They did not have long to contemplate it all before an explosion interrupted all thought. The ground shook with devastating force, everyone turning to the source. The mall complex- the same they were all going to- was the source of an enormous multi-colored pillar of energy, half black, half emerald, wrapped in enormous arcs of blue electricity.

Even their attacker seemed distracted for a moment. A precious moment that they needed it seemed for help to arrive.

"DYYYYYNAMIC ENTRY!"

The figure turned to be met with the most ridiculous of entrances as a sweater-vest clad idiot joined the fray, smashing his fist into the metal clad mask of the feminine figure. The ground seemingly shattered apart, Kuroko, Uiharu, Misaki, and Misaki's driver sent flying away as the road gave way, a shockwave blasting everything away, including their would-be savior.

As the smoke began to clear, Kuroko stood up, looking around, finding the highway demolished, careful to avoid the long drop downward toward the ground-level street below. The metal-mask-clad figure was gone. She quickly looked around and saw Uiharu trying to climb around the hole to get to Misaki who was lying motionless on the ground face down. Kuroko rushed over to help, if only to ensure that Uiharu didn't get herself killed. They didn't need to wait long before they found themselves carefully climbing and suddenly being carried.

"I CAN HELP!" Yelled a voice that was somehow both endearing and incredibly annoying.

And they were placed down next to Misaki who was coughing and wheezing as she came to.

"Thank you, Gunha-kun. Your help is always appreciated." The driver nodded to the older teen. Kuroko noticed that the teen's arm, which he had used to punch their attacker was… beyond demolished. It was hanging limply, clearly shattered, the hand twisted in a stomach turning manner. It was like he didn't even notice. Why had his arm shattered on contact with her, but Kuroko's hadn't even been damaged?

"Not at all, Nokleben-sama. I'm sorry it took me so long to help. Emergency services are on the way. Hopefully no one was hurt." The teen named Gunha said, putting one hand on his hip, grinning widely.

Uiharu was kneeling next to Misaki, her head in Uiharu's lap, tears on her face as Misaki slowly came back to the land of the living. Kuroko wasn't really sure what to say. She wasn't convinced entirely that Misaki didn't have some scheme, but… that reaction had been very honest from her.

"Kuroko-san! I am glad to see you are doing so well! And with an arm now! Progress!" He grinned widely.

"Um… do I… know you?" Kuroko asked, trying to be polite.

"No! But I am the one who caught you when you exploded." He said simply, smiling. "I am glad I did. It would have been quite tragic that a hero such as yourself did not have the opportunity to continue to experience life. I hope you continue to heal." He then seemed to look at his arm, the destroyed one, raising it and flexing it with a growl. Cracks and pops were heard, and with a sudden ripping sound it suddenly seemed like everything popped back into place.

Kuroko tried really hard not to be grossed out. What kind of monster was this guy?

"So.. Wait, you were the one who saved my life?" She asked, turning to look at him, but already, he was distracted.

"I must go investigate that explosion!" And with that, he was gone.

"MIKOTO!" Kuroko ran to the edge of the highway, her attention back on the explosion herself, her legs shaking as she hoped that whatever that explosion was, Mikoto was OK. She had to be, right?

...Right?

* * *

Mugino groaned as she tried to pick herself up off the ground and get her bearings. What in the hell… What had happened? No, wait, she remembered.

That smug little prick had launched that black ball of energy at them just as her and Railgun had fired... Their attacks had collided, and that brat had pulled some huge piping from under the floor to shield them from the blastwave. It had sent them flying all the way outside.

"You stupid fucking little brat…" Mugino felt an intense murderous rage building inside of her. That little brat was always getting in her way, always acting superior to her, always, always, ALWAYS!

She pushed her way out of the park that she had landed several hundred yards from the mall, the bushes and branches having broken her fall- painfully- but otherwise alive. The mall had collapsed in on itself. Maybe that smug prick had died. She couldn't see the brat anywhere at all… Where the fuck was Frenda? Or Shiage?

She was so angry she could barely contain herself.

"If that little whore thinks she can just go on thinking she's better than me…" Mugino grabbed at the roots of her hair, clenching her teeth. "I'll ruin her…"

* * *

"Yeah, think I'll just… she'll be fine." Mikoto muttered from very far away, far, far out of earshot of Mugino after she'd managed to avoid getting exploded by Dark Matter. Once she was sure Meltdowner hadn't died, she'd bolted toward the highway. What felt like a supersonic human-sized bullet flew past her at one point, and the only thing she heard was "KUROKO-SAN IS THAT WAY!"

Deciding that she had had enough weird for one day, she rolled with it, flinging herself carefully from building to building, eventually spotting a worried looking Kuroko, and practically launching herself into Kuroko's overjoyed looking arms.

"KUROKO!" Mikoto collided with her, hugging her tightly and falling into the ground, panting and collapsing in exhaustion.

"I… Oh man…" Mikoto panted out, looking at Kuroko, Uiharu, and even Misaki who was still resting in Uiharu's lap but had regained consciousness entirely. "I've got a few updates and…" She looked down, ashamed. "...I lost track of Saten. But she seemed… OK."

* * *

Saten jerked awake as she was shaken by her shoulder, sitting up straight as she looked around frantically to get a grasp on her surroundings.

"W-what? Where? Why?" She blinked. Oh, right. Shiage had driven them to a private clinic. They used liquid breathing tissue restoration tanks. Frenda was badly injured, but overall, it was mostly small tissue damage and blood loss.

"Super calm down." Said a voice she didn't recognize. Saten turned to look at a girl with short brunette hair in a long sweater dress. There was a look in her eyes as she looked at Saten that Saten really didn't like. It was… judgemental. Almost condescending.

"You were out all night. Frenda spent all night in a tank. She's super better. There, I passed it along." She thumbed at the door where Frenda had been resting in a tank. She then turned and leave without even introducing herself or saying goodbye. She couldn't have been older than Saten.

"What the hell…" Saten stood up, half wanting to smack the girl for being a rude little shit. But honestly, right now, she just wanted to go see Frenda. Sighing, she stood up and knocked on the door.

"Come in…" said a quiet, muffled voice.

Saten entered, closing the door behind her.

"Hey, Fren- Oh come on!" Saten quickly turned away from Frenda, covering her face. Frenda was still in the tank that was slowly emptying of its regenerative fluids, her voice muffled because of that, and by proxy, still naked.

"You're so adorable." Frenda snickered, leaning against the clear crystalline substance of the tank, waiting.

"Your… friend… told me you were better." She muttered, staying turned away. Eventually, Saten heard the tank open up, and heard wet footsteps approach her from behind, hugging her.

"You saved my life, I saved yours. Guess that means we're square, huh?" Frenda said quietly, pressing her cheek against Ruiko's back.

"I think it's time we call it quits, Ruiko." Frenda said wrapping her arms around Ruiko's navel. "I'm an unrepentant mercenary who kills people for cash." She squeezed the naive girl. "You should go back to your friends. Apologize for making your mistakes. Try and be better. Don't be like me. You've got the mighty Railgun to protect you, and friends who do genuinely love you. Kay?" Frenda smiled a bit, before letting Ruiko go, patting her back for a moment.

"Thanks for everything." She said honestly, pulling away and turning to grab her clothes, sighing a bit. "Shiage can drive you home, just go hit him in the lobby." She said, walking over to a chair where her clothes were folded, a slightly sad smile on her face. Ruiko stood motionless by the door where Frenda had left her. Frenda took a brief moment to glance over at her and saw her raising her hand up toward the door, her sad smile widening a bit.

Good. This was for the best. Ruiko should be one of those sad, ignorant dopes. She didn't deserve this lonely, pathetic, miserable life. She looked back to her belongings and started going through them again.

Click.

Frenda found herself blinking. That sound… Was that… No… Couldn't be… the… lock?

Frenda turned in time for Ruiko to close the distance between them. Their lips hit each other and Frenda found herself suddenly off her feet and up against the wall, her eyes wide, and for once, she was the one blushing in shock as she felt hands on her ass and her feet off the ground.

"R-Ruiko, w-what are you-!?"

"No." Ruiko was blushing so intensely that her face practically radiated heat. "No, I refuse. I'm making my choice. I'm done letting other people choose for me. I'm done letting other people protect me like some helpless damsel. I'm done falling apart." She pressed closer to Frenda, who seemed at a loss in this sudden turn in developments. Especially in the role reversal of her being the naked one and Saten being the clothed one.

"I want to be stronger! Like you! I don't want to be scared of monsters anymore! I don't want my home to be this festering pit that it is! I want to make a difference!" Ruiko held Frenda closer to her, prompting a gasp from the older, smaller girl.

"Earlier… I said… I said what if I do want this to be something?" Ruiko said quietly, looking away from Frenda's face, which was admittedly difficult with how close together they were. "What… would you say?" Ruiko asked quietly. Silence stretched on for a moment as Frenda thought, and thought, and thought. She felt the tension building in Saten's body, but to her credit, she waited patient. This girl… This idealism. It reminded her so much of someone. So much.

"I'd say… That while locking the door was very dramatic, I'm not having sex in a hospital room. Take me to a hotel room or something like a lady." Ruiko blinked as she looked at Frenda with a frazzled, flustered look, Frenda grinning widely as she took hold of the dominance of the conversation. "...And from there, we can see where this goes. I'm willing to give it a try." Her grin widening as she pushed her lips against Saten's once more.

* * *

Frenda stretched a little as she looked out the balcony window at the nighttime city lights, smiling a bit. She glanced over her shoulder at the moving lump of adorable under the covers. After getting shot at in a mall, and having to spend a night in a recovery tank, she really hadn't expected to spend her NEXT night like this. Not bad.

Her cellphone vibrated on the chair next to her.

Frenda leaned down, opening it open. It read; Mugino - Boss. She flicked it open.

DO YOU HAVE A PLAN?

Frenda frowned. She texted back a response.

NOT EXACTLY.

She waited. A response came.

KEEP ME POSTED. SHE COULD PROVE USEFUL AT FIGURING OUT RAILGUNS SECRETS.

Frenda felt her grip on the phone tighten and her jaw clench. Her hand shook slightly.

RIGHT.

The people in power. The people with power.

...And those without it.


	17. Chapter 17 - The Hanged Man, Upright

The man who hanged within the glass chamber watched the bubbles within his liquid prison of his own design flow by him, his long hair drifting within the medical life support fluids just as his long robes did.

"Hmmm…" The man who would be king of Academy City hummed to himself as he stared out into the orange-light-covered landscape of the chamber that made for his industrial throne room, holographic screens, hundreds of them, floating around in an enormous circular pattern around the several story tall cylinder that stood as the centerpiece of this room.

"I have not done a tarot reading for quite some time." He pondered aloud as he watched several different angles of the same video, his voice echoing through the chamber without his mouth moving. The second, third, and fourth ranked Espers of his city engaging in a skirmish within a shopping mall. An interesting turn of events. Not an unsurprising turn, but most certainly an interesting turn.

A panel opened in the floor far below him, and a deck of cards rose, levitating into the air. Magic was not something he often dabbled in these days- Science was something he intended to have eclipse such disgusting practices- but it had its uses for now. "The Major Arcana will suffice for now. I don't expect much, I have not had even half of them become active as of late..." He said with a touch of disappointment. He had not expected such lackluster ambition in his pawns and other chess pieces this past century… but alas.

As he pulled upon the deck, calling upon the cards that had any trace of will or presence, he found the usual results at first.

The first was unsurprising.

Death.

"Of course. Even in defeat, you have not lost your might and fervor, lost as you might be. Though I see that you are drifting toward Upright… perhaps your calling is not as far off as you suspect. Good."

He drew the next card.

Emperor. In reverse.

"As I expected. Firmly, in reverse. That is within my boundaries of parameters of the Spare Plan." He hummed, flicking the card to the side, floating next to the Death card, the two cards levitating in a orbiting formation.

He sighed a bit. Everything was going as it usually did, with little to no variation. Perhaps there was no point. Next should be…

He looked at the next card.

Judgement.

"...What?"

Judgement? Judgement? He had never drawn the Judgement card, at least not for the past 137 years. It had always been eclipsed by the Aeon card. His deck was unique that way- you would draw one or the other, not both. That did not mean necessarily Aeon was out of play… There was no reason to panic.

"But the card I expected to draw… This could mean an incredibly unpredictable set of variables. He needed to be careful. Perhaps the next card would help reveal more about the nature of the Judgement card and who or what it was connected to…

The Sun.

Lines of light glowing energy linked the sun card to both Judgement and Death. Connections of positivity and growth. That helped narrow it down a bit… In a roundabout way, Accelerator was linked to the card of Judgement via the card of Sun. Interesting. He needed to know more. The Sun had been a present element since the Level 6 Shift Project. That significantly narrowed down the possibility of what it might represent.

He drew the next card.

The Tower.

Ah yes, one of the oldest cards he had been dealing with. Perpetually in Upright and Reverse, changing and shifting, spinning in place, calamity and awakening, a fear of change and aversion of disaster. Yes, he knew that this Tower was a troublesome individual who caused him a great deal of problems, but was also one of his most important pieces. Sickly chains of violet energy weaved from it, latching on to every card around it, as it always did. Yes, the individual this card represented always had their hand in everything.

He let the card drift into the higher orbit of the other cards to keep an eye on it as he typically did. Next card.

Strength.

Yes, this was a card he'd seen. The violet energy lashed out at from the Tower, and as always, flailed ineffectively at it, unable to affect it in any meaningful way. As always. The anomaly. He'd do more with it if he could divert the lad into something of use, but he was simply to… simple and unpredictable. A pity. Next card.

The Empress.

Or the Queen, as she more often preferred.

Most interestingly, the violet strands of energy lashed out from the Tower seemed to tangle with starlight that leaped from The Empress, tangling together in a war of shadows. While this did often happen, this was the first time The Tower was actually doing more than toying with The Empress. She was actually causing The Tower to fight back and try, to struggle significantly. Perhaps the absolute power The Tower once held was somehow slipping? Unsurprisingly, a line of burning white light connected The Empress to Strength. A line of… understanding.

Next card.

Temperance.

The man in the cylinders head jerked to attention. That was a new card. It drifted toward The Tower, chains of violet energy wrapping around it, squeezing it painfully until blood poured from the card, crushing its potential. The card was in Reverse, and weak. It had lost any potential it might have had. The likelihood of it having any effect on coming events was slim to none. He calmed himself, shaking his head. The Tower was truly a cruel entity beyond reason. To create such potential only to crush it so completely.

Not that he was one to judge. Sometimes sacrifices must be made. Next card.

The Magician. In Reverse?!

He found alarm immediately. The card floated free of the deck, and like cruel lashes, The Tower sent forth vampiric spikes into The Magician. Completely unlike Temperance, it did not crush it, no, it siphoned, and then it force-fed it. Like some bizarre loop of a vampire that savored the blood of its victim before vomiting the blood back down the throat of the unfortunate, The Magician suffered and was changing, slowly, bit by bit. What did this mean? What could The Tower hope to accomplish in such a strange ritual?

What was happening? Too much was happening too fast. It was like someone had struck a domino. He needed to finish the reading and examine it in detail further.

He drew the next card. If he was correct, this should be the final card, and the deck should disperse back into magical energy once again.

The deck did not disperse.

The World.

He could hardly believe what he saw before him. And as if the world was out to mock him, as the World floated there, it slowly lost its focus, before vanishing. What… What could that possibly mean? No, he could not dwell on it right now. He needed further answers. The deck awaited him. He drew the next card.

The Hermit?

It was almost a strange relief. The card floated before him, before drifting toward the Empress, a line of red, blue, and green light connecting to it, before reaching out and connecting to Judgement, then to The Sun. Another line of light reached out, and seemed to fade away into empty space, touching nothing at all as it faded away. It was almost innocuous in its innocence.

He pulled the next card.

The Devil.

Interesting… The card floated free, moving toward The Magician. A line of relationship drew between them. A dark line of growing doom. A black fate. The card was Upright, for now, but it was starting to turn in Reverse, slowly, bit by bit. By the looks of it, as their fate grew blacker, their card grew further in Reverse. Which would happen first? He wondered why it mattered though… Why would this person be relevant? The journey to self-awareness…

His eyes moved to The Hermit, her lines of multicolored energy grasping like a hand toward The Devil, searching for her. Interesting.

He drew the next card. His eyebrows raised in alarm once more. Another card he had not seen in a long, long time. As the card floated from the deck, and the deck dispersed, lines drew from it to others, and his alarm grew more and more, and… this was it. This was the domino. No, not THE domino. One of them. It would be foolish to think that just one could cause this level of change. This was a cascade effect. Many had flipped their respective domino's across an enormous room filled with stacked assortments of delicately placed patterns of the tiles.

The Chariot, though in Reverse... It floated next to The Devil, a line of blue and pink and yellow connecting them. The Hermit's grasping hand reached more desperately for The Chariot and The Devil. Weakly, lines of connection drew from The Chariot toward The Hermit… and Judgement. Chariot too had a line reach into nothingness and disappear. Judgement, he noticed, also had such a line.

Chariot. The arrival of the "Victorious Hero". There had been many heroes across the ages. But his deck was different. He had attuned his deck to work for truly mighty beings. Beings such as Accelerator, Dark Matter, Railgun. Some of the cards, such as the Hermit, allowed much weaker entities to appear within his deck due to their nature. The Chariot did not. The Chariot demanded a being of truly monumental willpower to be recognized by his deck. Who could have possibly had such a revelation? No… No, The Devil. The Devil's journey to self-awareness and revelation… it is connected to the full maturity of The Chariot. As The Devil turned toward Reverse, toward its Release… The Chariot approached Upright. When that happened.. IF that happened… something extraordinary would occur. The Devil would need to outrun their black fate of the Magician and complete their journey, and The Chariot would need to not stray from The Devil… and no further interferences…

He quirked a further eyebrow. The Tower did not reach for The Devil or The Chariot. It was as if The Tower was… ignorant of them.

His eyes fell onto the results of his readings. On The Tower, the violet lashes of connections had gone haywire. While its connections to the existing cards remained stable, thousands of chaotic lashes flayed at the air, striking at nothing, panicking. What did that mean?

Further… Strong bonds were linking the cards together. And the bonds were growing stronger. The world so underestimated the might that came from such bonds. New arrivals had come in droves… Treefall had created a new playing field he had not foreseen. The new cards and connections had taken time to crystallize, the new field not yet realized, but here it had arrived. Bonds reached out beyond the sight of his cards, into nothingness- even a card had vanished beyond the realm of his decks sight.

He had grown unforgivably lax. Too much had changed. It was time to take a more proactive approach to information gathering.

A smile grew across his face.

"Children truly are amazing." Said the oldest of arrogant men.

* * *

The sound in the sitting room of the young girls residence was of echoing keystrokes and sniffles mixed with strangled choked back sobs.

"Haru-chan…" The Queen spoke next to the girl who sat at her reserved sitting spot at the kotatsu, typing away with powerful keystrokes, her face marred with tears as she typed away rapidly. Mikoto limped into the room with Kuroko, grimacing as they saw Uiharu.

"Shit…" Mikoto cursed.

"Haru-chan, you need to stop and rest, you have been at this for hours, you haven't slept in two days, I know you haven't." Misaki said sternly, Uiharu shaking her head furiously as she stayed focused on the screen.

"N-no, I need to find Saten, it's been over a week and she hasn't called or anything! What if she's hurt, or hates me, or if we never see her again?! We almost found her a few days ago and that was a disaster!" Uiharu wiped her face, clearly distraught.

"Uiharu-san, I'm really sorry, but… she's right." Mikoto agreed with Misaki, as much as it pained her. And as much as it annoyed her that she was becoming a more active presence in this house. "Sorry." She said again, snapping her fingers as the laptop turned off.

Uiharu hands froze as she blinked in confusion at the computer, leaping up in a rage as she glared at Mikoto.

"Don't shout at me. You are destroying yourself like this. You know this isn't healthy." Mikoto said flatly, leaning into her crutch. Kuroko winced next to her. Mikoto was right, but the words were a little blunt. As tension in the room rose, Misaki rising from her seat, looking annoyed at Mikoto for her bluntness, it was all interrupted by a knock at the door.

Everyone turned toward the door, quickly migrating to it, hope starting to blossom in their chests. Mikoto swung the door open with her powers in eagerness, two people standing there looking surprised at the forcefulness in which the doors opened. Everyone in the room had to duck a crowbar as it flew through the entrance hall, caught in the electromagnetic field.

Frenda and Saten. Frenda was holding her hands out in front of her in such a way that said she was the one holding onto the crowbar.

"Uhh…" Frenda blinked. She then lightly kicked Saten's leg. Saten looked to Uiharu who was silently drowning in tears as she stared at Saten. Saten, unable to restrain herself, mirrored her expression and dove on her, the pair letting out loud cries of nearly incoherent cries as they fall onto their knees, crying and apologizing to each other in a manner that was in no way understandable by anyone.

Those observing decided to let them have their moment for now, though eventually, Kuroko spoke up.

"So… why is there a crowbar here?"

"Oh, well, see, I told Saten she could take as long as she needed before coming back and talking to you guys." Frenda said with a chipper and happy tone. "After a week, I discovered I was lying to her and myself." She said in a suddenly more deadpan tone. "So I went to the hardware store and bought a crowbar and threatened her with bodily harm to come see you guys."

"T-T-That i-is not w-what h-happened!" Saten sobbed out from the floor to a smirking Frenda, still clutching on to a sobbing Uiharu.

"Maybe, but you can't prove that, and my version is WAY funnier." Frenda smirked, looking up from Saten to the others present. She noticed that Mikoto was giving her a funny look.

"Hey, Frenda." Mikoto smiled to her. "Can I talk to you for a second?" She looked to Misaki and Kuroko. "Watch over these two until they can gather themselves, OK?"

* * *

Frenda raised an eyebrow, but shrugged a little. Railgun didn't remember her, so it was fine. She followed her toward a sideroom as the girl limped her way on her crutch to the more western styled sitting room and around the corner out of sight.

Frenda was a little curious what might be going through the Railguns mind, but it was probably just some questions over the past week. Girl was protective type. It was cool. As Frenda turned the corner and walked a few steps, she instantly realized her mistake. Mikoto turned so quickly, and her crutch raised so fast, it must have been the electromagnetism. The crutch warped like a snake as it wrapped around Frenda's neck, strangling her tightly enough that she could barely breathe.

Her eyes snapped open in panic as she collapsed onto her knees, pulling futilely at the metal crutch-snake, tears in her eyes. FUCK!

"W-wait-!" Frenda rasped out, looking up at the angry eyes of the Level 5.

"Running into Meltdowner at the mall and seeing the two of you together really jogged some memories. Including that savage beating you gave me, and the fact that you're a murderer." She scowled down at the girl, the crutch squeezing down on Frenda's throat, the instinctive fear of death flaring in Frenda's eyes.

"I will not let you hurt my friend." Mikoto hissed out. "Are you trying to hurt her to get to me? What sick game are you playing at, you murderer?" Mikoto growled, clenching her jaw.

Frenda had no idea what came over her in that moment with this next word that flew out of her mouth. In that moment, it was the dumbest word that she could have said in her mind.

"Hypocrite." She gasped out, drool trailing down her mouth through gasping breaths, tears mixing and pooling at the tight recess of the metal crutch.

Mikoto could only stare in shock at the response.

"Do you… not realize the situation-!?" Mikoto hissed in a loud whisper.

"Spoken like my boss." Frenda coughed out in a wheeze, her hands still grasping at the snake choking her out.

Mikoto felt like ice was poured into her veins.

"Using intimidation and threats to get what you want just because you're more powerful than everyone else… fucking demigod." She coughed out, wheezing for air, her eyes hazy. "You know more than… anyone… you're self-righteous. You've killed people too. The only difference between me and you is that I've killed people for a paycheck." Frenda paused before laughing, which sounded like a rattle with the crutch choking her.

"OH WAIT." She grinned. "You're a LEVEL FIVE." Her grin widened. "I forgot… Like every single Level Three and up… Academy City gives you a nice fat check every month for your contributions to the science of this city…" Frenda began to speak more clearly as the crutch loosened. "Face it, you stupid little girl. You may not participate in this city's seedy underbelly like I do…" She finally took a full deep breath as she forced the crutch off, grabbing onto a decorative dresser and pulling herself off the ground, panting and wiping her face off.

"But like every abilitied person in this city… You're complicit. The only innocent people are the weak without choice. You have power. You have staggering amounts of it, more than almost anyone else, not just in this city, but on this entire fucking planet. Countries FEAR you." Frenda found herself laughing at the sudden raw absurdity of the situation she found herself in. "Oh my fucking god, this is so fucking stupid…" She laughed, leaning into the dresser and covering her face. "This world is so fucking stupid…"

"Really girl… It's hard to intimidate me. Especially you. You love your friends too much to choke someone to death two rooms over. You wouldn't be able to look them in the eye." Frenda stood up a bit straighter, wiping her face off before looking at Mikoto once again.

"And to answer your original question… No, I won't hurt Ruiko." Frenda said, a bit angrily. "And I just came here so she could make up with her friends. She was upset and needed consoling after you guys got into a fight or whatever." She shrugged, rubbing her throat a bit. "Shit, that's gonna bruise." She muttered.

"Go talk or whatever. Just be nice to her." Frenda said, before storming off and out of the building.

Mikoto stood there stunned, unsure of what to say, her forearm crutch slowly resuming its original shape.

* * *

After Misaki and Kuroko managed to get the pair of crying friends off the floor and to the kotatsu for warmth and Maika making tea for everyone. Mikoto limped her way in after composing herself, the taste of her effort at righteous intimidation having turned to ash in her mouth.

Still, the warm smile of Kuroko helped calm her as she entered the room. Mikoto moved next to her girlfriend, seating herself next to her and cuddling close to her, Kuroko looking mildly surprised at the sudden close affection as Mikoto rested her head on Kuroko's shoulder.

After some time had passed and the crying had slowed, Misaki was the first who spoke.

"OK. So, is there anything anyone wants to get out into the air?" She asked softly, playing with a loop of locks in her thick blonde hair, her casual demeanor always grating on Mikoto.

"Y-yeah!" Uiharu said instantly. "I-I'm sorry, Saten-san! I didn't mean what I said! I swear you are my friend, I didn't mean it!" Uiharu leaned over to hug Saten tightly, who returned the hug, and for a moment, it seemed like Misaki, who was glancing at her bag, was debating whether she wanted to stop further waterworks, but restrained herself.

"I know, I know, and I'm sorry I went through your things, I really am, I'm sorry I was prying!" Saten hugged her tightly. As she said this, Uiharu visibly tensed up. There was a pause as Uiharu bit her lip and her breathing grew a bit more uneven.

"I… I actually have a confession to make. You remember when I said I had been checking to see if you were going to your appointments?" She asked, to which Saten nodded.

"I… I have actually been keeping tabs on… on all of you." Uiharu said quietly, shame deep in her voice. There was a silence for the briefest of seconds, before Misaki cut in.

"I asked her to." The older girl said, though before Mikoto could explode, Uiharu interrupted.

"I would have done it anyway, don't try and take the blame!" She said quickly, Misaki, glancing away, huffing slightly.

"I… Everyone has been in so much pain! Ever since Treefall! I just… I didn't know what to do! Misaki helped us get somewhere safe! I asked her to help us!" Uiharu said, tears falling down her face, looking ashamed. "I just wanted us to be away from people who could use us or hurt us! People needed to help heal and recover, and Shirai-san didn't even have any arms, and… and... I just… I just…" Uiharu covered her face and began to sob incoherently as everyone stared, shock spread across their faces.

Misaki stood up from her seat, guiding Uiharu to rest her head in her lap as she sobbed, unable to bear looking at her friends.

"The house you have been living in is owned by me, not the city. I have done slight memory alterations to Saten-san, as well as numerous others that aren't important right now, to help alleviate some minor confusion and memory holes as to why she would have been placed here when she was only involved in minor ways to Treefall, as well as Haru-chan, for the same reason. Gunha has been watching over you as well, at my request." She explained, her fingertips lightly stroking Uiharu's scalp.

"The simple reality is, is that you are all hunted. Shirai-san, are you familiar with Indigo?" She looked to Kuroko who immediately tensed. "That venomous monster is still quite active and alive. He attempted to attack this building a short while ago, but Gunha intercepted him and beat him back. He attempted to attack the hospital you were both at as well, and Gunha helped there as well. He's got quite the Hero Complex." Misaki sighed a bit with a tinge of annoyance.

"However, the attack on the highway shows that he cannot be a permanent solution." Misaki frowned.

"Who… What is he?" Kuroko gasped out, her body tense, Mikoto taking her metal hand in her own. Misaki played with Uiharu's hair a bit before answering.

"I don't really know for certain." Misaki replied. Mikoto's eyes narrowed at that. Disbelief filled them. She still did not trust Misaki. Perhaps not as much as before, but she was still hiding something.

"All I will say is that he is involved with all manner of unethical and immoral practices of this city, and he most certainly does not like you. I will continue to look into the matter and, in the meantime… I recommend you all focus on recovering while I look into the matter further." She said, looking up from Uiharu to them.

They all blinked in surprise, all of them growing increasingly upset as the seconds ticked.

"W-what?!" Mikoto shouted, angry at the condescension. "Are you suggesting we sit here like good children while you work?!" Mikoto stood, Kuroko standing with her, looking just as angry.

"Yes." Misaki said flatly up at them. "That is exactly what I am saying." Misaki added. Saten stood next, scowling at her.

"I'm sick of people-" Saten began to raise her voice.

"Do you think throwing a tantrum is going to add to your argument?" Misaki asked, continuing before they could add further shouting.

"I have an expansive network of information gathering agents and a telepathic power that allows me to learn things and hide things better than anyone, as well as vast resources to do all of this. I can protect people with all of this. What can you all do?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Saten-san has the fortune of being almost entirely unknown to Indigo and his agents. He only knows her by proxy of Haru-chan. He likely ignores her for the most part because of his spiteful hatred of Shirai-san. If anything, his behavior shows that he is a grudge-bearing, hateful, spiteful man. The rest of you aren't so lucky. You need to be careful. You need to heal, and you need to figure out what you are going to do, and how you are going to proceed with your lives." Misaki said, her demeanor one of a high class lady talking down to lessers.

She stroked Uiharu's head, who the others realized had drifted off to sleep in her exhaustion of sobbing.

"Haru-chan has devoted her time, immense amounts of it, to protecting you all, and tracking your recoveries and your mental health. Solely to help you all. If only you all put as much energy in yourselves."

There was a moment of silence in the air, before it was broken by Mikoto.

"...I guess you really do love her, huh." Mikoto said softly. Even Mikoto, immature as she often was, could hear the projection in those last words from Misaki.

Misaki's eyes narrowed, and with a slight scoff and a flourish of her hair she replied.

"I hope to never hear you doubt it ever again."

* * *

Mikoto groaned as she collapsed onto her bed, burying her face into her pillow. She let out a loud grunt as she felt all 98 pounds of Kuroko drop on to her back suddenly.

"Mikoto~" She felt a nuzzle at her neck and couldn't help but chuckle a little.

"Hey Kuroko…" She groaned, burying her face again. "Please, come on, make yourself comfortable, thanks for knocking…" She said sarcastically. She felt Kuroko's weight lift as Kuroko got off of her, and heard some footsteps, and then the door open and close. Shit... Did she make her mad?

Then a knock at the door.

"...Really?"

"Mikotoooo. Can I come in?" Came the all too sweet reply.

"...Wow, Kuroko. That… That was pretty sassy. I'm actually kind of impressed." Mikoto said as she looked up at the door, which cracked open as Kuroko grinned toothily at her.

Kuroko leaped into the room and onto the bed, nuzzling up against her love with such intense affection. Mikoto wrapped her arms around her and grinned, her heart beating in her chest.

"I'm sorry, it's just… I can feel this arm. Heaven Canceller did so well on it...The hundreds of millions of microscopic sensors… I can feel every fold of cloth, every warm inch of skin I touch…" She sighs out, pressing her face against Mikoto. "Sorry, I know I'm sounding obsessive, it's just…"

Mikoto smiled and hugged her tighter. "No, it's fine. I can only imagine. And you've been practicing so much with it. I'm proud of you." She smiled, sighing as they moved close together and laid there. Silence stretched on. For the first time in awhile, a happy one, rather than one filled with tension.

"I remember what you told me, about what happened on the bridge. What Misaki did… and about what attacked you all. You were absolutely sure what attacked you was female?"

"100%. Trust me, their outfit did not leave almost anything to the imagination. Why?" Kuroko asked, looking up. Mikoto scowled a bit, nodding. She pushed her thoughts out across the Network, the Network answering back. As always, she had such a hard time deciphering it, but it was a feeling of thankfulness. A feeling of a promise of future action. As well as a feeling of… praise? Praise from a very high pitched voice that was both very motherly and extremely childish. Somehow, this voice, that periodically popped up, was always so, so very frustratingly annoying.

"It's just… the way you described their powers reminded me of something. If she was female though… it debunks it." Mikoto shook her head, leaning down and giving Kuroko a soft kiss.

Kuroko squeaked and made that cute little embarrassing trill she made whenever Mikoto took the initiative. Mikoto let it hang for a bit before pulling her lips back.

"Thanks… The Network says they're gonna get back to me. I'm gonna try and decipher what they're trying to say. It's so freaking hard sometimes. It's just… feelings and…" Mikoto sighed, shaking her head. "As for Misaki… She prioritized Uiharu above herself and nearly got herself killed trying to protect her. I don't trust her, I still don't trust her. But… I do think she loves Uiharu honestly." Mikoto said quietly, even if her words were painfully said and begrudging.

Kuroko nodded in agreement, pressing her face against Mikoto's neck, sighing. "And what Misaki said was right. Even if it hurts to say it. I've only had my arm for ten days. We need to focus on our recovery. I may be proceeding well on controlling my arm, but that is only because I focus on it so much. If I lose focus… I need to learn to make everything I do unconscious. Maybe once I do that… Maybe once I get both of my arms…" She trailed off. Mikoto knew what she meant. Maybe once she got both of them, maybe then her powers might begin to recover. They had no idea. That faint spark of hope was there.

"Hey Kuroko?"

"Yes?"

"...What do you… think of moving into the same room?" Mikoto asked softly. Her eyes immediately avoided Kuroko's gaze, as she could practically sense the wide-eyed shining gasping fantasies springing to life in those lusty orbs.

"A-Are you sincere?" She said in a husky tone that made something deep in Mikoto's stomach squirm. Maybe this had been imprudent.

She felt a hand squeezing somewhere very, very impolite.

This had been VERY IMPRUDENT.

"K-KUROKO!"

"S-Sorry! I just got excited!" Kuroko said, pulling her hand back from Mikoto's chest, trying her best to look innocent and failing.

"I just thought… sometimes we fall asleep in here so often anyway, and hang out in here, so… you know…" Mikoto blushed, showing her shyness at affection again. Kuroko beamed up at her, wiggling up and nuzzling her.

"If you're offering, you know I won't hesitate for a minute. If you're ready." Kuroko said, better controlling herself now. For all her feistiness and excitement and eagerness… when Kuroko composed herself, she was very good at respecting Mikoto's boundaries. Mikoto let the idea hang in the air for a moment, before smiling.

"Yeah… yeah, let's do it."

Kuroko couldn't contain herself a moment longer before smashing their lips together once more.

* * *

Misaki stroked Uiharu's hair as she slept in her bed, Misaki sitting on the edge of it as her lover slumbered. She looked down at her phone, reading the periodic updates she got from Nokelben. Her security consultant did good work. As he should… He had been the very same man that had counteracted Misaka Mikoto during his tenure as the security consultant for the Level 6 Shift Project.

Thankfully, her powers allowed her to numb the emotional distractions that might interfere with her work.

The incident from a week ago had been extremely notable. Dark Matter's body had not been found on site, and while it was possible he had been vaporized by Meltdowner and Railgun, it was extremely unlikely. His organization, SCHOOL, was still moving and operating in the shadows, and his field operative that had been moving around that day had also not been found on sight. More than likely, he was still playing his part.

That was the thing. She had just listed three Level 5's. Count herself and Gunha, that meant there were five of the seven present that day. That strange attacker that had managed to break Gunha's arm with whatever defensive power it had was clearly a dangerous adversary as well. Whatever reason it had to disappear, she suspected that it would return again. Her mental powers also had no effect on it, and had a power like Mikoto's, able to not only block her power, but cause her to accidentally use it on herself. Maybe some form of electromaster? It had ripped apart that car with no effort. It could have done that with magnetism, and redirected her remotes signals with electromagnetic fields.

And then there was Indigo… She was closing in on him. He could only hide his identity for so much longer. There were limits even to his power. He could not operate in this city and be a ghost at the same time. Further, his grudge match and need to prove himself superior to others kept forcing his encounters with Gunha. He may keep escaping, but his powers kept showing their diversity due to his changing tactics. His latest revelation of a power similar to Synchotron, the power to accelerate certain particles to cause them to detonate revealed much.

"You can't hide forever you monster… I will make you pay for trying to destroy my precious, Haru-chan…" She said coldly, the grip on her phone tightening slightly.

"I will bring your entire diseased temple of a mind down on your head."


	18. End Act I - Interlude - Begin Act II

A/N Thank you to everyone! We recently broke the record at time of this upload for the most hits on 11/11/2018, with over 270 hits in one day, and 54 unique visitors across both Treefall and Sunrise! I write out of enjoyment, because I have a story I wanna tell and it makes me happy, but I also take a great deal of enjoyment out of making other people happy. So I truly do hope I am doing that.

If you have a minute or two to spare, I always appreciate reviews. Even something as short as "I liked THIS PART" or something like that. It helps, it truly does.

Thank you all, for your continued support!

* * *

Lightning struck the top of a tall skyscraper, spider-cracks of electricity rocketing across the surface of the roof. From the center, a youth walked from it.

The blonde youth walked to the edge of the stone, smooth outcropping of the tall skyscraper that looked over the many districts of Academy City, flopping down to sit down, his feet dangling over a thousand feet off the ground. Thunder rumbled over head as rain began to pour down, but he seemed unperturbed by it, his face spreading into a wide grin as he stared across the skyline at the glowing monolith that was the Windowless Building.

"Crowley, Crowley, Crowley." The youth said with a laugh in his voice, his grin with white teeth and prominent incisors shining like lightning.

"Did you really think I'd just stand idly by and let you make my successor without me getting a word in edgewise?" His eyes drifted upward at the large storm that was forming over Academy City, watching the lightning strike at the spires made by Science to stave off the damage.

"Misaka Mikoto. I just can't wait to meet her."

End Act I

* * *

Interlude

* * *

Mikoto stared out the window as rain poured down, water droplets sliding down the glass. She rested her hand against the cool glass, feeling somewhat humbled by the rumbling thunderstorm. It sure had been storming a lot lately. Especially with it being winter, she expected more snow than rainfall. It was approaching December after all.. It was what, middle of November now? November… To imagine that the Level 6 Shift Project had happened 15 months ago now. So much had happened in the interim. Good and bad. She felt her hand squeeze tightly onto her forearm crutch that she still relied on for balance and strength. Frenda's words echoed in her mind.

"You're complicit…" She muttered, glancing down at the puddles gathering in the walkway in the courtyard through the fogging window. She wanted to dismiss that little murderers words. Problem was… was that… she wasn't wrong. Not entirely. Every student in this city had made agreements when they enrolled here to serve as data sources during the ability development, and as test subjects. The general understanding in all their contracts was that the testing would be humane.

But… humane was very subjective. And she wondered that in the pursuit of advancement, in the drugs, and hypnotism, and electroshocks, and needles to her various parts of her brain, maybe… maybe she'd lost track of the point that she'd let herself cross the line. None of these treatments had hurt her, no, but…"

Images of dead clones flashed across her mind. She felt tears well up in the corner of her eyes as her body shook. Guilt began to build up in her gut as she clenched her jaw. How many bodies had her success been built upon? How many people had died to ensure that the experiments used on her were safe?

She felt a softness against her back as an arm wrapped around her waist.

"Having dark thoughts again?" Kuroko's voice cut through those aforementioned grim musings.

"...Y-yeah." Mikoto nodded. Kuroko had grown very good at picking up on Mikoto's grim moods, and this had become an ongoing agreement. Mikoto would stop lying about when she was having a bad mood or dark thoughts.

"Well, we're both in warm pajamas now. I hooked up the heated comforter. Why don't we cuddle those away? I promise to keep my hand to behave." Kuroko said with a grin. Mikoto found herself smiling softly, her eyelids hanging heavily.

"OK… I love you, Kuroko." She said, turning to face her, looking down at the shorter girl, blushing. "I… I really don't…" She began to say, but Kuroko leaned up and softly pecked her lips.

"You do. You do deserve me." Kuroko cut her off, smiling. Mikoto blushed and mumbled something in gibberish in embarrassment as she looked away, but Kuroko wasn't about to let her get away that easy. "Say it." Mikoto blinked.

"Say what?" She asked.

"Say you deserve me." Kuroko grinned, hugging her a bit tighter, grinning like a devil. Mikoto stared at her blankly before her face turned a burning fierce red, breaking down into incoherent stuttering as Kuroko grinned and waited.

"I...I…" Mikito stuttered, but steeled herself, the look in Kuroko's eyes more than just mischief. "I d-deserve you…" She mumbled quietly, barely meeting Kuroko's eyes, her chin pressed against her clavicle. Kuroko grinned a toothy grin before she pulled Mikoto across the room to their bed, tugging her onto it and pulling her underneath the heated comforter, cuddling close to her.

"Yes, you do. I love you, Mikoto." she nuzzled close to her. "Please never forget that."

Mikoto pressed herself close to Kuroko, hugging her tightly to her chest, and let herself cry silent tears.

This time, of happiness.

* * *

Ruiko was trying very, very hard not to be negative as she got back in her room. No, she was determined not to be. She wouldn't be envious of her friends being alone in their rooms with their girlfriends!

Still, it stung a little to be back in her room alone. Ruiko sighed as she buried her face in her pillow. She let out a loud groan against it as she rubbed her nose into the soft cloth. The rain pattered against the roof until it sounded deafening. She sighed a little. It was relaxing in a weird way. Then she felt a sudden intense wet soggy gross coldness on her back.

"OH FUCK WHAT NO!" Ruiko tried to get this strange alien THING off her back, leaping out of her bed but found it clinging to her.

"Ruiiikooo! Heeeelppp!" Came the whiny, pleading voice of Frenda.

"F-Frenda!? What? Why? How!?" Ruiko then spotted the open second-story window where wind and rain were now blowing in that she hadn't noticed so lost in thought that she was.

"M-m-my s-s-surprise s-s-s-sexy a-a-attack w-w-was f-f-foiled by r-rain!" Frenda chittered out through chattering teeth as she clung to Ruiko's back, who found herself suddenly in reverse roles of rain-soaked freezing rescuing operations as she ran to her bathroom, still dealing with the clinging monster that was Frenda.

After much confusion, Ruiko found herself pressed up against the wall of the shower, her face crimson as she stared down at a feisty Frenda.

"F-Frenda! T-the others might hear!" She said in a stage whisper over the falling steaming shower water.

"That's a lot of loud rain… besides, I just couldn't resist. There's something about you Ruiko. I think it's the abs." Frenda made a kind of purring growl that brought a shudder out of her counterpart.

"But in all seriousness…" Frenda grinned up at Ruiko as she rested her chin on top of the girls chest. "If you're serious of wanting to be more than just another ignorant dope… you are going to need to learn how to do better than those clumsy moves than you showed back at that mall. You promise to be a good student, I promise to try not to be a shitty teacher."

Ruiko looked down into Frenda's eyes, clenching her jaw before nodding with determination.

"Deal."

Frenda's grin grew into a broad smirk. "Excellent."

And much to Ruiko's surprise, Frenda climbed out of the shower and dried herself off, moving her way out of the bathroom. Ruiko tried very, very hard not to let the disappointment show on her face. I mean, it's not like… like she was sex-crazy or anything. It… it was kind of fun. That's all.

Ruiko got out, dried herself off, turned off the bathroom lights, and as she walked out, noted that the lights of the bedroom were off.

"Frenda?" She blinked, a flash of lightning illuminating Frenda's jumping figure just in time for Ruiko to spot her before she was pinned to the bed. Ruiko felt a hand in her hair, grabbing at the roots and a mad giggling laugh.

"I'm not going to lie, there's a gleeful sadistic side of me that knows if Railgun knew what we were doing just across the hall, she'd probably lose her goddamn mind."

"W-w-whaa-?!" Ruiko began to stutter out, but a hands location at her chest and a knees hard jerk between her thighs, followed by a strong pull of hair at the roots that accompanied Ruiko's neck whipping back to follow along for the ride cut off the train of thought as Ruiko let out a very un-lady-like moan.

"Shh… Fun now… Tomorrow we start learning."

Needless to say, Ruiko was quite grateful that evening for how loud the storm and rain was.

* * *

Misaki growled loudly as she fished through her bag, grabbing a remote and pointing it at her head, pausing for a moment as she felt a hand weakly grab at hers. Haru-chan's. Her heavy eyelids partly obscured her eyesight as she looked down at her beloved, still asleep, reaching out in her sleep.

She lowered the remote, sighing. Even that monster had to sleep sometimes, and she couldn't keep warding off sleep with her powers. Letting out another heavy sigh, she dropped the bag onto the ground, standing and undressing, taking out her elegant nightgown and donning it. She had brought a spare bag along once this whole debacle with Saten had started, and was happy she had.

Gently moving Uiharu over to make room, she slid next to her, pressing the back of Uiharu's head against her chest, cradling her gently.

"My Haru-chan… So fragile… so clever… so devious." She pet the girl's head, smiling. She let her mind wander as her eyelids grew more and more heavy, slowly drifting away.

* * *

14 Months Ago

Konori Mii watched her last remaining Judgement officer work diligently at her desk. Diligently was a… strong word though. Uiharu Kazari was slowly typing at her keyboard, her eyes drifting across the monitor, in a trance. The massive bags under her eyes spoke volumes at how little sleep she was getting. Her work quality was dropping, and at this point, without Kuroko… who might never wake up from her coma…

"Hey Uiharu-san…" Konori reached out and lightly touched her junior's shoulder, and almost instantly Konori wanted to hit herself for her mistake. Uiharu, who hadn't even acknowledged her approaching, let out a scream of terror as her hand even lightly touched her, leaping from her chair and backpedaling away, tripping and falling onto the ground.

"I'm sorry!" Konori said instantly, cursing herself for beyond foolish mistake. Uiharu didn't look up at her, she stared down into her lap shaking for a moment, wiped her face before looking up at her senior and gave a shaky smile.

"I-It's f-fine, Konori-senpai. Y-you just startled me." Uiharu said with such a bald-faced lie that it hurt.

"...Right." Konori said softly, offering her a hand to stand. Uiharu very hesitantly took it, standing up and dusting herself off.

"You should head home for the day, I think we're good." Konori said. Uiharu looked startled at this, looking at the mountain of paperwork.

"B-but, we have s-so much to do sti-"

"That is an order. Get some sleep." Konori said in a firm tone, staring down at the wreck that was Uiharu Kazari. Uiharu stared up at her with a somewhat helpless expression before relenting, nodding slowly.

"Yes, senpai." She said weakly, gathering her things together and shuffling out of the building.

She shuffled her way down the street, hugging her bag to her chest. Every few minutes it felt like something startled her, causing her to jump, or gasp out.

She bumped lightly into a man as he walked down the street, who turned to her in annoyance, scowling at her.

"Hey, watch it!" He growled at her. "Stupid kid."

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" She backpedaled away from him quickly, tears in her eyes, nearly tripping over her own feet before running away as fast as she could panting, her exhausted body barely able to maintain such a run. She managed to get to her apartment, her new one after her previous had been damaged by debris. Smaller, one person.

She got inside, locking the door after she got in, checking the locks repeatedly, all five of them. She went through her routine, checking the windows to make sure everything was OK, nothing was broken into, everything was secure. She shuffled over to her fridge and looked inside. Not much to eat really… not that she was really hungry.

She shuffled over to the floormat and pillow that served as her bed, tucked up against a corner. It was a good spot. She could see the front door, but was also just a few feet from the nearest window in case she needed to use it.

She listened to her voicemails.

"Hey Uiharu-san! It's me… Saten. Just calling to check in again. See how you're doing. Just… you know… give me a call back. OK?"

"Hey Uiharu-san, it's me Haruue. I've missed you since we've had to separate since the apartment got messed up. Hope you're doing OK. Call me."

"Hey Kazari-chan. It's Mom. Please call. I haven't heard from you since you called to tell me you were OK since that space elevator incident they talked about on the news. They keep talking about Academy City closing its borders more and reducing outside contact. I'm worried about you."

Uiharu put her hands over her ears as she felt tears flow down her face. She just couldn't do it. She couldn't. Nothing was right anymore. Shirai. Misaka. Both of them were gone, probably forever.

Nothing would ever be right again. Nothing.

She curled up in the corner of the room and cried the night away, fearing sleep and the nightmares it brought.

The dark truth of the city had stolen Uiharu Kazari's innocence.

And nothing could bring it back.

* * *

Uiharu groaned as she woke up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. What had she been dreaming about? She didn't remember, but it had been unpleasant. Shifting, she felt the presence of another. Turning, she saw the sleeping face of Shokuhou Misaki cuddling up against her. Smiling, she turned to face her, cuddling up closer and blushing a bit, sighing as she let herself drift back off to sleep.

Not to be troubled by a even a single more unpleasant dream that night.

Begin Act II


	19. Chapter 19 - The Fool, Upright

"This is bad."

Uiharu looked up from her computer, looking questioningly at Misaki who was staring out the second story window down at the pair of amazons currently going at each other.

"What's bad?" Uiharu asked, confused.

"He's been silent. Indigo. My network has been working in overtime, but he's been remarkably quiet." She looked at her phone, noting the date. December 18th. "That psychopath has only ever been so patient since before Treefall. When he was in control." She bit at the tip of her finger, her eyes narrow. "Combine that with Dark Side organizations reportedly having increased hostilities with each other, death tolls of subordinate organizations rising, and I just sense this is going to reach a breaking point…" Misaki growled, rubbing her face.

Uiharu got up from her table and hugged Misaki from behind. Misaki let out a quiet sigh, smiling just a little. Uiharu was one of the few people that got to see Misaki like this. Brief moments of weakness or frustration that she never let anyone else see.

"We're doing our best… You're doing your best." Misaki sighed and turned around to embrace the shorter girl tightly.

"I only hope that is true." She whispered quietly.

* * *

Said two aforementioned amazons were Mikoto and Kuroko, who had taken to sparring in an attempt to revitalize themselves. Unfortunately, their sparring was fairly lackluster, since Mikoto still had to rely on her crutch for balance much of the time.

"W-whoaaa!" Mikoto wobbled around, her crutch warping its shape to reach out and bend to grab at the ground as she bent it with her mind, stabbing into the ground and righting her.

"A-are you OK?" Kuroko said with concern, holding up her one arm with concern, wincing.

"Fine! Just fine. You worry too much. I'm not going to get better if I don't push myself. We've only been at this a couple of weeks." Mikoto adjusted her winter jacket, grateful the snow had been very sparse this winter. "How about you? How's your arm holding up?" She asked, looking at it with concern. She had been, admittedly, been pulling her punches. Both of them had been having a very difficult time going at each other without restraint.

"Well, I went in for the usual maintenance check-up, and he said that it didn't need any repairs." She said quietly, looking at the arm with some suspicion. Mikoto tilted her head.

"Isn't that good, though?"

"No, I mean… No repairs. AT ALL. None. It was in perfect working order without a single tiny scratch. He was absolutely sure that this, while not technically impossible, was statistically impossible." She says, glaring at the arm, before looking up at her. "Remember what I told you about the bridge? That girl who broke Gunha's arm. She caught my punch, and seemed surprised when nothing happened… what if that was supposed to happen to my arm?"

Mikoto stared at her, her brow furrowing as she bit her lip and grew more and more thoughtful. "But… what does that even mean?"

"Mikoto, I want… to test something. It's… kind of dangerous. I want you to shoot a low power magnetic shot at my palm, OK?" She said, raising her arm up. Mikoto looked at her like she'd gone completely insane.

"Have you lost your fucking mind? Absolutely not! If I am off by even just a bit, I could kill you! No! No no no!" She swung her crutch through the air repeatedly for emphasis.

"Please, Mikoto! I… I think I have an idea what is going to happen, but I just… I trust you! I know you won't hit me." She says, trying to give her a confident smile, but clearly not moving Mikoto.

"No, that kind of vague crap is not going to do it, try again." Mikoto scoffed, looking beyond angry.

"Mikoto… I… I think that this might help me understand why I lost my powers." She said softly, clenching her artificial hand. "Please… Please. I trust you with my life. I know you won't hurt me." She said, with such absolute faith that it made Mikoto's heart throb painfully.

Mikoto shifted around uncomfortably for awhile, pacing around as Kuroko gave her begging eyes.

"OK… Just… It'll be weak. If I miss, it'll sting like a bitch." She said, fishing out an arcane coin. She was going to pull back a lot of power, throttle this back a lot. Fuck she needed to not miss this. Kuroko smiled to her and raised the hand up, looking jittery.

"R-Ready?" Mikoto asked, focusing her jittery nerves as she pumped up the electronic charge.

"Yes. Let's do this." Kuroko nodded, taking deep breaths.

Mikoto felt the charge build up, the coin vibrating between her thumb and finger before, with great reluctance, she fired it at Kuroko's waiting palm. It felt like it went so much faster than it should have! Did she do it too fast!? Kuroko's eyes went wide as she saw it make a straight shot at her, visibly flinching as the crack echoed through the air.

A moment of tense silence filled the air before Kuroko looked at her synthetic hand, which in a very realistic fashion was shaking in anxiety. Mikoto quickly hobbled over to her, looking her over.

"Are you OK? Are you hurt? Fuck, this was a stupid as hell idea." She said, kicking herself. Kuroko was looking over her shoulder as she got to her, looking around the area. Mikoto blinked at her in confusion. "What's wrong?" Kuroko's eyes returned to her beloved, confused, excited.

"Where… did the coin go?" She asked, raising up her unharmed hand.

* * *

Frenda reached up to cover her nose. There was something about the smell of cooking human meat that you could never get used to. Even as an explosives expert, this was… excessive.

"Super done." Saiai said as she walked into the room. She paused for a moment as she scanned the room of the latest facility raid they'd just completed Saiai had been tasked with accompany Rikou, their Esper Tracker, through the facility to find their target, an Esper working for SCHOOL under that insanely powerful Rank 2, while Frenda had been partner with Mugino, the Meltdowner.

And Frenda… she had a poker face. She was good at pretending she wasn't bothered when she wasn't being goofy. Her eyes drifted to her boss. Mugino had always been a touch crazy, but…

The slaughter that was before her right now… Bodies littered the room, over two dozen people, including noncombatants, just staffing of the facility that had the misfortune of being in the room, and Mugino had just carved through them all. And now she was… she was…

...Just going through her phone. What the hell? This was a new level of cold and cruel.

"P-Please… H-help…" Frenda's gaze turned to one survivor who was crawling on the ground, somehow still breathing. He was a burnt, scorched mess, half his face seared off and missing a leg.

"U-um, Mugi-" Frenda began to say, but was interrupted by a bright flash of green energy as Meltdowner turned the man into a smear of slag, the Rank Four not even looking up from her phone. Frenda didn't say a word. Frenda had done her fair share of kills during this mission, she was no angel. Everyone in this building knew what they signed up for. That's what she needed to keep telling herself.

"Saiai, is the target dead?" Mugino asked pointedly, awaiting her answer. The smaller girl simply gave a quiet nod.

"Yes." She answered simply.

"Good. Frenda." Frenda nearly leaped out of her skin.

"Y-yes?" Frenda asked, letting out a nervous laugh at her somewhat more volatile than usual boss.

"Give me a report on your current mission. I take it your manipulation of that little whore is going well?" Mugino asked, still texting on her phone, presumably to their subordinate organization. Frenda found herself bristiling a bit, but kept it buried deep inside of her gut.

"It's going fine." Frenda began, her mind turning a million miles an hour, trying to think of what in the world Mugino wanted to know. What did she want to know that she didn't already know? "I mean, based on what I've seen, she honestly strikes me as just… a teenager." Frenda said as delicately as she could, to which Mugino scoffed, giving Frenda a disgusted look.

"Spend less time molesting your target and more time actually getting me what I want, Frenda. She's a target, not another one of your sluts." She said, before resuming ignoring her entirely, turning and storming out of the facility.

Saiai spared Frenda a somewhat sympathetic look on her usually emotionless face before making her way out as well. Frenda stood there for a moment, surrounded by burning corpses.

Sigh.

* * *

Ruiko sighed a little, looking around, shifting a bit uncomfortably. Ruiko had wanted to start training outside of her minor exercise equipment in her bedroom, so she'd bitten the bullet and asked Misaki for some help.

And man, did rich girls like to flaunt their money. Saten was now all alone in a small private gym in the School Garden. Misaki had gone to great lengths to point out that this was a facility normally reserved for Tokiwadai's Level 5's, but seeing as school was suspended until April due to Treefall, she saw no harm in Saten making use of it. Evidently, Misaki tended to get whatever she wanted.

She was alone, but it felt so awkward. She decided to banish the awkwardness by beating the ever-living tar out of the punching bag that was in the room. She allowed herself to get lost in it, every punch and swing of the arm, until beads of sweat were dripping down her forehead.

"Easy there, killer."

Ruiko broke herself out of her trance, spinning toward the voice to see Frenda grinning at her, a bag over her shoulder.

"Frenda!"

"The one and only!" Frenda let out a cheeky, playful grin, sticking her tongue out at Ruiko. She dropped the bag onto the ground with a relieved sigh, stretching her arms out.

"Ready to start your trai-" She began before Ruiko grabbed on to her and planted a kiss against her lips, Frenda looking momentarily surprised. There was a moment she began to sink into it. That moment ended when she blinked and saw and smelled a pile of burning corpses. She pushed against Ruiko, gasping for air as she smelled them still, infecting her nose.

"...F-Frenda?" Ruiko said, sounding just a little hurt. Frenda took a few deep breaths as she regained her calm, shaking her head, raising a hand up.

"It's fine. It's fine, you're fine, it's just… I… I'm still…" Frenda stood up a bit straighter. "Please don't forget who I am, Ruiko. I just got off work. And I really… really don't want to mix those memories with memories of you. Let's just focus on training, OK? Please?" Frenda asked, going to her bag, sparing a look over at Ruiko, who looked more than a little conflicted.

"Right. So what are we doing today?" Ruiko asked, adjusting her sports bra and sweatpants.

"So, you're a level 0. You're gonna have to rely on your wits and speed to deal with some real nasty powers." Frenda pulled out…

"U-um… Frenda. Is… Is that a gun?" Ruiko said with serious anxiety. Frenda grinned at her with nothing short of sadism.

"Relax… It's fine. They are filled with stun bullets. They can't hurt you. Academy City's finest in non-lethal rounds. I even modified them myself! Less damaging." She assured her. "Slower, too. Easier to dodge than actual stun bullet would be." She added in, sounding proud. "Now, you need to learn how to dodge even the fastest projectiles, move based on how things are GOING to move."

"A-and…?" Ruiko began to back away slowly from Frenda.

"And I am not going to chase you around this building and shoot you with this until you learn not to get hit!" Frenda grinned, pulling the slider back to load a round into the chamber, her grin widening even more than it had before. "Teehee!"

There was a pregnant pause in air as Ruiko realized with horror that Frenda wasn't joking. Ruiko turned and bolted, and immediately learned as she felt an impact somewhere between her shoulder blades that while yes, Frenda MAY have reduced the DAMAGE these bullets caused, oh man, the PAIN was REAL. There was no way that was by design.

"ACKAGHILEKZCH!" Was the strange alien sound that came out of Ruiko's mouth before she collapsed onto the ground, twitching.

"Oh, this is going to be so fun!" Frenda's chipper, gleeful voice said as she waited for Ruiko to peel herself off the ground twitching. "Surely a little shock hasn't beaten the fight out of you, no?"

Ruiko was twitching as she got onto her feet, breaking into another run and into a zig zag, trying to use training equipment as cover as Frenda resumed firing with a mad laugh, clearly having FAR TOO MUCH fun tormenting Ruiko.

At best, fifteen seconds had passed before Ruiko was writhing around on the ground again from the electricity. Used the equipment to pull herself up, Ruiko gave Frenda a very accusatory look.

"T-T-This i-i-i-ssss turning y-y-you o-on isn't i-" She didn't get the chance to finish her accusation before Frenda, who had been watching her from a perch on top of a piece of workout equipment with a big grin on her face shot her her again, causing her to fall over and writhe.

"Hey! That's mean to accuse people of things!" Frenda huffed as Ruiko writhed around. "...And oh, you have no fucking idea." She grinned widely.

This was going to be a very, very long day.

* * *

Frenda would be lying if she said she felt guilty as she walked down the quiet night streets of the School Garden, her bag hanging behind her legs, and a drooling Ruiko riding piggy-back behind her.

"Frenda, you schuk…" She groaned out, still lightly twitching, filled with static as she was.

"You did so good though! By the end of the night, you were really starting to get good at dodging them! You know, until I started getting more serious, but that's progress! And what's progress without some pain?" She grinned brightly. "And that face of yours all contorted into ecstatic pain…"

Ruiko made a sound that sounded like a mixture of humiliation and frustration. "Why do you tease me so much?" Ruiko mumbled against the back of the blondes head, prompting the girl to snicker and stick her tongue out a bit.

"I dunno. I've always been kind of wild and kinky. Your reactions are just so precious." She grinned, moving to the automated train and slipping on, putting Ruiko down onto the seat carefully, letting her rest, her head lolling back on the seat, unable to support its own weight.

She turned to face the girl.

"Do you want me to stop?" She asked with a smile and a curious look. Ruiko paused, looking even more embarrassed than before. She mumbled something incoherent, causing Frenda to lean in closer.

"Hm?" Frenda winked at her.

"No…" Ruiko mumbled quietly.

"Huh… I wonder why." Frenda wondered aloud as the train began to move. She idly played with Ruiko's hair without permission, the younger girl blushing. "I wonder if you're more like me than you care to admit." Her grin widened.

Ruiko began to lean forward, her head swaying forward before Frenda caught her, mildly surprised.

"Ruiko?"

"...You're so silly, Frenda…" Ruiko muttered tiredly, sounding half-asleep. "So silly… But still…" She mumbled. "You make… my world brighter…" She slurred out, before her breathing began to even out. Frenda found herself holding onto Ruiko before shifting her to hug her.

"...Damn it, Ruiko…" She grit her teeth. She felt herself tense up, trying to ignore the words echoing in her head. Words she knew were true.

"...You make my world brighter too." she whispered so quietly, even she could barely hear it.


	20. Chapter 20 - The Empress, Upright

A/N Special mention to DschingisKhan for inspiring part of this chapter.

* * *

Uiharu yawned a little as she began to wake up, her eyes drifting open. Her cheek was stuck to the wood of the kotatsu table where she'd drifted off to sleep, causing it to peel a bit as she pulled herself off. She had her eyes half-lidded as Misaki met the corner of her mouth with a handkerchief, alarming her slightly after the drowsiness began to fade from her eyes.

"M-Misaki-sama!" Uiharu blushed fiercely as she shook off her tiredness, the older girl grinning at her.

"Really, Haru-chan. Why must you insist on such formality with me. We have been together so long, yet you insist." Misaki pouts at her even as Uiharu grows more and more flustered, savoring the ease at which she was able to tug at the strings of her lover.

"It's just… it's proper! You're so noble and a lady, and I'm… I'm just, me!" Uiharu was red and the face, so much blood rushing there Misaki thought she might faint. Misaki grinned as she pulled the shorter and smaller girl into her lap.

"You're a proper lady too, even if you don't see it. Such negative views of yourself… Tch tch tch..." Misaki said as she began to play with Uiharu's hair, Uiharu fidgeting with her hands as the older girl played. Misaki girlhandling Uiharu was not an uncommon occurrence. Uiharu simply found herself squirming in Misaki's lap more and more as her mind wandered, memories starting to come unbidden to the surface…

* * *

14 months earlier…

Four days. Four days ago, Konori sent her home early. The next morning, Konori had called her, telling her to take a week to reorient herself, get some sleep, and come back reenergized. By the end of that first day, Uiharu was already considering the pros of suicide.

Uiharu didn't have any energy, or faith in a bright future anymore. She had no hope. She had nothing. Sleep only came when her body could no longer sustain wakefulness. She did not dare look in the mirror, as the massive bags under her eyes would only give her more reasons to hate herself. Now she was repeating a routine that had become typical; browsing the internet and reading up on the least painful ways to die.

Her voicemail kept going off, and she kept ignoring it. She didn't care anymore. Nothing mattered anymore.

Unbidden and unwanted, a chat program, that she very much did not recall installing or opening on her laptop, opened a window on her screen; a friend request.

"The Queen of Academy City would like to be friends with you. Accept?"

Uiharu blinked at it incredulously, even angrily. She didn't install that. She must have forgotten to turn her laptop off and a piece of malware must have put it there. Queen of… what a stupid name.

She floated her cursor over the "No", and as her finger moved to push down, she found herself… unable. No matter how hard she tried, her finger shook violently, and she found her hand drifting toward the "Yes" before clicking down it suddenly, letting out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. She was sweating a bit as she stared down at her hand to the laptop connected mouse, her hand shaking before her eyes drifted to the screen where a chat window had opened up. Messages were beginning to be sent to her.

"Hello."

"I'm so happy to have finally found you."

"We have so much to talk about."

* * *

Uiharu felt two soft gloved hands pulling cruelly at her cheeks until they hurt, pulling her out of her memories.

"When I said negative views of yourself, I was NOT implying when you were having a period in your life when you were in a state of deep depression, Kazari." Misaki said in an angry tone, scowling down at her lover. Uiharu made a whining sound as she flailed around, her cheeks snapping back into place as Misaki released them.

Uiharu pouted as she rubbed at her cheeks. If there was one thing that one becomes remarkably numb to, it's how casually your partner tends to read your mind. Not that… that was unintentional or unknowing… Uiharu had consented to that.

"S-sorry…" Uiharu fidgeted around more, letting out a gasp as Misaki suddenly shifted her around to face her, nuzzling her closer, nose to nose, surprising her… until she realized Misaki was being spiteful again.

Mikoto had walked into the room to get some water from the kitchen and had clearly paused for a moment to see them being all lovey dovey, and Misaki, out of pure spite, had decided to amp it up purely to jab back at her. Why? Why did Misaki feel the need to escalate things with the other Level 5 constantly?

"...Sorry to intrude…" Mikoto grumbled quietly as she limped out of the room, sipping on her water bottle.

"Why do you do that?" Uiharu asked Misaki, scowling at her. Misaki turned her eyes back to her, star-filled and shining with faux-innocence.

"Do what?" She asked, smiling as if ignorant.

"You know what. You're constantly trying to antagonize Misaka-san."

"No, I am behaving in a manner that I know antagonizes her. I am not attempting to antagonize her. It's very different." Uiharu raised a skeptical eyebrow at this, but waited patiently for further explanation. Misaki smiled at her more widely, shrugging.

"No." Uiharu crossed her arms, huffing. "Not good enough." As Uiharu got defiant, a glint in Misaki's eye looked proud.

"Fine, fine… Mikoto is a prideful, overprotective, and stubborn girl who refuses to dissuade herself from her initial opinions when she feels strongly on something. And I will not, for one moment, budge on my affection for you just to make her more comfortable because she had preconceived notions." Misaki explained, her gloved hands returning to play in Uiharu's hair, adjusting the flowers in her lovers locks.

"And because you enjoy teasing her." Uiharu added in flatly, staring into Misaki's eyes with a sort of deadpan expression. Misaki paused in her hair-playing, her breath catching in her throat as she felt like Uiharu's words had stabbed her in the stomach. Sometimes, just every now and again, her sweet and angelic little Uiharu was just… so… insightful.

"Well… sometimes… there is that."

Insightful...

* * *

14 months earlier...

Uiharu groaned as she blinked herself awake. When had she fallen asleep? Her memory was kind of fuzzy. She pushed herself off of her floor cot, rubbing her face. She felt… good. Better than she had in awhile. She didn't really remember her dreams… in fact, she didn't remember waking up at all last night.

Slowly, she found herself standing up, glancing down and noting her pajamas, another thing she did not recall. When had she changed into those?

Shuffling over to her kitchen she began to make herself breakfast for the first time in what felt like forever, some rice and eggs and toast. She took a moment to grab her laptop and put it on the kitchen counter and play some quiet music as she cooked. She glanced at the time on her oven. 9 am. She'd really slept in late… though not really. When she did sleep lately, which wasn't often, she slept into the late afternoon due to exhaustion.

Ding.

A new message?

She glanced to her laptop at the screen, where that chat program from the previous night was. She barely remembered last night… it was all kind of blurry. Her eyes skimmed the messages…

They were chaotic. Her responses to this… Queen... were not calm. They were neurotic… angry. Paranoid. Hostile. Through it all, this Queen seemed remarkably patient. Her latest message was what Uiharu was most focused on rather than the specifics of what appeared to be hours of paranoid rantings of a sleep-deprived and suicidally depressed mind.

"Good morning, Uiharu-chan. More well rested today?"

Uiharu found herself staring at the message. The only reason she didn't burn her breakfast was the hypervigilance that seemed omnipresent these days. Uiharu found herself shaking. She was frightened by this situation. She took a moment to check the door locks and the windows again before rushing back and getting her breakfast into a bowl and a plate and returning to a table, getting herself situated as she stared at that message.

Eventually, she had the bravery to respond.

"Yes."

She typed out the response and went back to eating her food, staring at it nervously. Normally she wouldn't be able to bear the thought of eating right now, but she couldn't help it. She had quite the appetite this morning, even if she didn't know why.

"Excellent." Was the response that came several minutes later. Uiharu stared at that message, eating her food until it was gone before returning it to the sink and cleaning it, her hands still violently shaking before she returned to the table, waiting for another response. None came. She decided to say something.

"Who are you?" Was the question she felt was most pressing. This person, whoever it was, knew her name. It was conceivable that she knew more about her.

"That's not important right now. What's important is that we get you to a point that you stop visiting such unpleasant websites, and considering such dark thoughts. Consider me… a very well informed individual."

Uiharu felt her heart rate skyrocket. She was on her feet in an instant, feeling very much claustrophobic. How? How did this person know so much about her? This… This was…

"Relax, Uiharu-chan. I mean you no harm. I approach you here, in your world."

Uiharu began to calm, but there was a pause before she stared down at the computer and leaned down and typed on it rapidly.

"No, you aren't. You're watching me. I know you are. How do you know I am panicking?!"

There was a long pause as Uiharu waited for a reply, such a pause that Uiharu knew she'd said something accurate.

"Insightful. I am not watching you in the manner in which you are thinking. Think less watching you as much… watching over you. To me, people are like books. And I am fluent in all languages."

Uiharu found herself calmed down, though more because she was puzzled by how her mysterious online companion was speaking in riddles.

"I can promise you, you have nothing to fear from me. I understand that trust must be earned however. Make a request. If it is within my power, I will grant it."

Uiharu found herself staring at the screen again, pulling her legs to her chest, hugging them tightly. It was true that she felt better, physically and mentally, than she had in weeks, but she was frightened. Even through a computer screen, the authority in which this mysterious individual, or individuals, wielded was intimidating.

There was one thing that did occur to her, but it was such an unreasonable request. There was no way this person had the power to find out something that even she couldn't figure out… while it was true she hadn't been at the top of her game…

"My best friend is Shirai Kuroko. She saved this city. She was taken to a hospital, but it was classified for the foreseeable future by the Board… I just want to know if she's safe… if she's stable. Could you do that?"

Uiharu knew it was the epitome of unreasonable. This individual, there was no way-

"Here."

Within fifteen seconds, pictures flooded Uiharu's computer screen of a hospital, a floor plan, one room in particular highlighted, with markings on it labeled "Shirai Kuroko - Isolation - Maximum Security"

"You won't be able to see her. No one can right now. As far as I am aware, she is stable, however, though comatose still. That bit of the news report is accurate."

Uiharu fell onto her rear on the ground as she stared at the screen. The speed at which she had this, she must have already knew. How… who… who was this person?

"Does this help you trust me?"

Uiharu paused, staring at the screen before crawling over to it and typing slowly.

"...For now, yes."

* * *

Misaki broke out of her daydream as Uiharu rested her face against Misaki's shoulder, sighing a bit, nuzzling her face deeply into her. Misaki raised an eyebrow suspiciously at her.

"I feel like you're trying to tell me something." Misaki said with a grin as she looked down at Uiharu with a most mischievous Uiharu made a mumbling sound but otherwise said nothing, which just made Misaki more amused and less interested in making this easier for Uiharu.

"No, no. We express ourselves when we want things, Kazari." Misaki said with a grin, knowing full well from her in-depth telepathy exactly what she wanted.

"Oh, I know!" Misaki pulled Uiharu off her lap and placed her down onto a sitting pillow, standing up. "I'll go see if Saten can help you express your thoughts, I'm sure her and Frenda, based upon my… observations… have some experience on the matter." She grinned as she turned to leave. Uiharu turned beet red and nearly tackled Misaki to the ground as she grabbed at her legs.

"NO! PLEASE!" Uiharu yelled, her face red. Her friends could not know. She wouldn't be able to live it down. Misaki grinned as she leaned down, pinching Uiharu's cheek.

"What's wrong, Haru-chan?" She grinned, before whispering in a conspiratory fashion. "Afraid your friends will find out that you've been sexually active for months? Oh, I wonder how your friends might react that little Uiharu was the first out of all of their circle of friends?"

Uiharu looked like she could just die right then and there as she curled up into a tiny ball of embarrassment.

"Nooo…" Uiharu whined quietly as she desperately tried to pretend that she wasn't a teenager ruled by hormones.

"You're so precious!" Misaki had the largest smile of mischief as she picked up a Uiharu broken by embarrassment, though only to get her to her feet. Misaki was many things, but capable of physically carrying Uiharu was not among them. Uiharu whined pitifully as Misaki led her by her hand to the foyer and then up the stairs. "My precious Haru-chan."

* * *

13 Months earlier...

"UIHARU!" Saten nearly crushed her in a hug as she saw her friend for the first time in two months after a sudden invitation to meet her at the hospital to visit Misaka, who'd recently been transported there from her previous facility.

"H-hey… S-Saten…" Uiharu squeaked out.

"I've been so worried about you! Why didn't you return my calls? Are you OK? What happened?" Saten barraged her with questions much like Uiharu expected, and the Uiharu fidgeted with her PDA in her pocket in a comforting gesture.

"I'm OK, I just… I had to figure some stuff out. Still am, and I'm getting better. So let's just… go see Misaka, alright?" Uiharu asked, wanting to focus on that. Saten, who very much didn't want to leave it at that, frowned, opened her mouth seemingly to argue, before dropping it.

"Sure… yeah." She nodded, the pair turning and heading down the hall toward the room that now held their comatose friend.

Several meters behind them, a blonde beauty smiled into a remote, invisible to them, a hint of pride in her starry eyes at the progress of her little project. She looked at the cellphone that held a long-going conversation with a contact labeled "Haru-chan". An affectionate nickname she'd picked only recently. Since they'd begun communicating this way, Uiharu had left her house freely. She'd become more open, less dependent. Good… Good. Maybe she could start pulling back soon.

Ding.

"Hey! We're going to go see, Misaka now. Maybe later tonight we can… do something? If you want. That is."

Misaki smiled despite herself.

"Of course. Talk to you then."

Maybe. Maybe… But… it wouldn't hurt to keep this going… a bit longer.

...Right?


	21. Chapter 21 - Temperance, Upright

A/N: I got a poll on my profile going right now. Take 3 seconds to hit a button if you could, I'd appreciate it. Vote once, please. I'm just trying to get a baseline of my readership.

* * *

There had been many a troubling times in the girls recent history, but one thing that they had all managed to agree upon with excitement, at the recommendation of the Tokiwadai girl's more Western influenced School Garden leanings, was decorating the house for the holidays. None of the girls were particularly religious, Kuroko especially felt the need to occasionally make a snarky comment in her very "Girl of Tomorrow" view born of Academy City, but after a playful jolt from Mikoto, better behaved herself.

And so, the girls had found themselves from the early morning decorating in a very generic, if somewhat Christmas-y, style across the house, with Maika having gone to the trouble to find some Christmas music for them that admittedly only a few of them understood the words to. Saten and Uiharu both confessed their English were not spectacular.

Mikoto had made a slight face when Misaki had arrived at the house, the girl starting to become more and more omnipresent. She spent a great deal of her time out of the house however, often on business or dealing with her faction.

"She's only here an hour or two a day, at the most, and occasionally stays the night in Uiharu's room. You're just over sensitive to her presence." Kuroko said as they worked together to hang up a wreath. With Kuroko having one arm, and Mikoto only having one arm free as the other was used for her crutch, they tag-teamed a great deal. Mikoto scowled at her girlfriend at the harsh words, huffing.

"I.. I am not."

Kuroko fixed her with a flat, half-lidded stare for a solid ten seconds before Mikoto's morale finally broke.

"O-OK, maybe a little…" She confessed, huffing in a manner Kuroko found quite adorable. They finished hanging the wreath above the fireplace before backing away, turning to where Uiharu and Saten were currently working on the tree.

"I told you, the book said that you're supposed to put a star on top." Saten insisted, standing on top of the latter and balancing herself in a way that was both impressive and wholly unsafe.

"B-but I think the angel is pretty too!" Uiharu insisted, pouting a bit. "A-and that's not safe, Saten-san!"

"No worries! I recently had an Indian Poker card of someone who could balance on anything!"

Mikoto and Kuroko smiled a bit at the pair before moving on to their next task of decorating, hanging up some lights around the perimeter of the room. Kuroko found herself lightly rotating her shoulder slightly as she listened to her friends bicker a little, sighing a bit at the soreness.

"So… No luck on that coin?" Kuroko asked softly as they continued to hang up the string of lights, bit by bit. Mikoto shook her head in response.

"I reached out with my electromagnetic senses and found nothing. That coin is gone, completely. No matter where I looked. I did the math, there is no way with the speed I shot it at that it could have richotched any further than where I looked." She explained, frowning a little, mostly in a thoughtful gesture.

Kuroko looked equally thoughtful as they continued their task, keeping quiet as they let their thoughts flow for a moment.

"Maybe my powers are still functioning… at least somewhat." Kuroko said quietly, a hint of hope in her voice as she looked up at Mikoto. Mikoto in an instant had already closed the distance between them, hugging her to her chest tightly.

"We'll find out. I swear we will." Mikoto gripped her tightly, tensing as she felt the grating, silky, heavenly voice of Misaki ring through the room as she strolled in.

"Maika-chan made us cookies!" The girl grinned as she walked in, carrying a plate of Christmas cookies that were still steaming from the oven, placing them down onto the center table of the room, grinning widely. Mikoto remained hugging Kuroko for a moment longer, calming herself from her unreasonable annoyance with the girl. Once the two let each other go, she let out a sigh.

"Thanks…" she let out a mumble toward the blonde, avoiding eye contact before returning to decorating and quietly talking with Kuroko.

"So maybe your power works on the subconscious level now… teleporting things without asking?" Mikoto asked Kuroko, who gave a bit of a helpless shrug.

"Without me calculating it?" She asked, frowning. "That I have never done. Like… how could I do that? And where could it go? I have a max range without it hurting me-" Kuroko cut herself short, blinking.

"...Hurting your arms." Mikoto muttered, finishing the thought. Arms that Kuroko no longer had. "Any phantom pain?" She asked softly. Kuroko shook her head. Curiouser and curiouser.

A soft tap on Mikoto's shoulder broke her out of her train of thought. Turning she saw Saten, who'd broken away from Misaki and Uiharu. The pair had sat down on the couch and were cuddling in a manner that Mikoto did not entirely blame her for detaching.

"Can I talk to you?" Saten asked softly. Saten looked a bit anxious, which made Mikoto herself anxious. Glancing to Kuroko, who gave her a nod as she pulled out her phone, which was buzzing.

"Go, it's the doctor. I need to take it anyway."

* * *

Saten and Mikoto had wandered over to a small nook in the corner of the living room, Kuroko out in the foyer on the phone, while Uiharu sat in Misaki's lap while she was being fed a cookie in a manner that was so sweet that it was somewhat nauseating.

"M-Misaka-san…" Saten said softly, in a whisper. Mikoto turned her attention back to Saten, feeling her long broad braid- which she now wore full time, having grown very fond of it- swinging behind her.

"Yes?"

"Did you…" Saten began, fidgeting, looking… profoundly guilty. "Did you ever figure out if Uiharu was being… you know…" She glanced toward Misaki.

Oh. Right. Saten had taken off and gone miss for over a week. They had never had this conversation. Saten looked up and saw Mikoto fidgeting in a manner that was clear that Mikoto was extremely uncomfortable.

"W-well… kind of…" Mikoto muttered. "You know Uiharu's flowers? She's got… electrodes in them. She installed them a long time ago, I guess. It's… uh…" Mikoto's face had turned into one of brick red blushing.

Saten was growing progressively more confused as the moment dragged on, getting more and more curious as to why Mikoto looked so embarrassed.

"...U-Uiharu consented to everything…" Mikoto said in a mumble, her face burning a brick red. Saten blinked at her repeatedly, and opened her mouth before a voice cut her off.

"What she means is…" A voice in her head began to speak, a voice that sounded heavenly and beautiful. "Is that when Mikoto-chan pressed the issue and Uiharu relented and shared the data in her flowers, she learned more about Haru-chan than she wanted to know. Would YOU like to know? We could trade bed stories." Misaki's voice purred in Saten's head as the dark haired girl felt her face burning red.

"T-thank you, M-Misaka-san…" Saten said quietly before quickly moving away, deciding to do everything in her power to flee this conversation. Something about that telepath's psychic personality intimidated Saten to no end.

Misaka quickly made her way toward the cookie plate to get something to eat and fill her mouth and distract from the embarrassment. Saten had made her way back to the Christmas tree, and Kuroko was still on the phone.

Then the doorbell rang.

Saten tried to scramble her way out of the tree. "I-I got it!" She tried to say, but was quickly getting tangled.

"Cool it, Saten-san, I got it." Mikoto smiled, turning away, not seeing the slight concern on Saten's face as Mikoto moved to the door and opened it.

"Good morn-" Mikoto began to greet in a friendly manner before that friendly personality stopped cold, her expression sliding from geniality straight into one of outright disgust in an instant.

There was a tense pause as the blonde that blinked back at her awkwardly cleared her throat. Frenda offered up a couple plastic bags.

"I… brought eggnog?" She said softly, part of her clearly feeling the intense negativity radiating from Mikoto.

"What are you doing here?" Mikoto whispered low enough so only Frenda could hear.

"...I was invited." Frenda responded in an equal whisper, standing her ground, her voice containing just a trace of… hurt?

"Frenda!"

Saten ran up and smiled brightly to the older girl, looking overjoyed. Mikoto forced her disgusted expression off of her face as Saten got close, her grip tightening on her crutch.

"I'm so happy you could make it. Come in!" She said with a bright smile, tugging Frenda into the building by the hand, Mikoto standing aside, suppressing her urge to smack Frenda with her crutch, instead just closing the door to keep out the chill. Mikoto glowered at the back of the mercenaries head hatefully, not trusting her with a single particle of her body.

A slight tug at her sleeve prompted her to look down toward her shorter partner, the smiling Kuroko who grinned up at her.

"Hey. You look like you've got a lot on your mind today. Why don't you help me do my hair and get it off your chest?" Kuroko offered, tugging her toward a small couch in one corner of the sitting room across from the others. Misaki and Uiharu were talking to Saten and Frenda, with Frenda playfully trying to push some eggnog on the tiny flower-headed girl, Misaki seemingly amused by this while Uiharu was doing everything in her power to explain the Academy City statue on underage drinking of alcoholic beverages.

"T-The statue c-clearly states that we are supposed to not-"

"Ah, but Haru-chan, what if we were to not remember at a convenient time that we ingested any form of alcoholic contents…" Misaki interjected in a philosophical tone, toying with Uiharu's hair as Frenda began pouring glasses with an ever-growing grin.

"B-b-b-b-but-!"

Mikoto looked to Kuroko, raising an eyebrow. "Shouldn't you…" She began to say, before Kuroko sat herself down cross legged, her back toward Mikoto.

"I'm not Judgement anymore." She said in a nonchalant tone. Mikoto nearly stumbled at such a flippant reply. What was THAT?

Mikoto sat behind Kuroko and began to use her fingers to comb through the strands, pondering how exactly to style it. Kuroko was always so… law oriented. This was… a departure from such a rigid part of her personality. From her personal code.

Mikoto… did have a lot to say. She just didn't know where to begin. It was pushing into the end December now… December 20th. That was today. So much time had passed so fast. So much had happened.

"Your hair's gotten so long. It's beautiful." Mikoto said in a very quiet, very embarrassed voice. Kuroko let out a chirping smile, wiggling underneath Mikoto stroking her hair, clearly restraining herself.

"K-Kuroko…" Mikoto said quietly, swallowing. "I… last year…" She began, Kuroko's head jerking up slightly in surprise as the topic shifted in a direction she wasn't expecting. "...I'm sorry."

"Last year, I mean… Mikoto you've already-" Kuroko began, but Mikoto shook her head.

"No, I haven't. I mean… at the beginning. If I… If I hadn't kept all of this a secret. If I had told you from the start what I'd found out, about the clones, about the project, about… about everything." Mikoto grimaced, the tension in her body and voice rising, but quiet enough that the others in the room could not hear them. Kuroko remained quiet for now, not interrupting as Mikoto finally opened up. She knew how hard it was for her.

"That night… that night you offered to help me. And I treated you like vermin for just trying to help. I knew I was wrong then, and I still did it and…" Mikoto had begun to tear up behind her, and Kuroko pushed herself backward to nuzzle her slightly to help calm her. "Shh… It's fine. Don't worry about it. It's nothin-"

"Is it?"

A voice echoed in Kuroko's head. Kuroko blinked and her eyes darted toward the only possible source. Misaki continued to talk and tease and play the social butterfly with the other three girls around her, even as the telepath maintained an entirely separate line of thought with Kuroko. A power Kuroko did not know she possessed, but in retrospect made sense- it made sense that Academy City's greatest telepath was capable of maintaining more than one entirely separate trains of thought.

"Do you truly believe it is a loving act to so casually dismiss this? She is pouring out her heart, I can only wonder how long she has let this build… I wonder how she would feel to hear how little her concerns matter to you…" Misaki's silky voice echoed through Kuroko's head. Misaki's eyes briefly flicked toward Kuroko as her advice rattled around the ex-teleporters head.

In return for the unsolicited advice, Misaki was repaid. By the sudden mental image of Kuroko imagining herself leaping up, grabbing a Christmas ornament, smashing it over Misaki's head and repeatedly stabbing her in the face with the broken shards.

Misaki's external facial expressions did not waver as she conversed and played the cool, calm, and perpetually serene Queen amidst the other three girls around her. But… there was a single drop of sweat that did trail down the side of her brow at the sudden burst of anger and "mind your own fucking business" that echoed in response from Kuroko's mind. There was just a slight hint of guilt behind that anger though… Misaki did have an- intensely irritating- point.

Mikoto had gone quiet, her hands still playing at Kuroko's long hair, its length now down to the back of her knee's… it was a bit unruly. Both of them had grown a bit attached to their longer hair… like it was a reminder of their struggles.

"Kuroko, I just… I'm just trying to…" Mikoto began to speak again, and it was clear that she was trying to suppress frustration. Kuroko was wincing and finding herself growing equally frustrated. Wasn't it the loving thing to do to be accepting and and forgiving?

"I'm just… I want to apologize…" Mikoto muttered quietly, sifting her fingers through Kuroko's hair more, continuing to style it however it was she was doing it. Kuroko couldn't quite see. Misaki's words bounced around in Kuroko's head once more and it was aggravating. Kuroko took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down

"Mikoto, love, I…" Kuroko began, sighing deeply. "...Look, you're right. Things would have been different, sure. I don't know if they would have been better, or worse, but they would have been different. And maybe not telling us was a mistake. I do wish you had let me help… I do wish you had told me." She nodded softly, turning her head, leaning back and softly kissing Mikoto.

"Thank you for saying so. I forgive you, and I just ask that we both try harder going forward… and try not to keep so many secrets from each other. OK?" She smiled softly.

Mikoto sniffled a bit, wiping her face and nodding softly, hugging Kuroko from behind for a moment before returning to her styling. "Y-yeah…"

"Promise?" Kuroko asked, smiling playfully, offering a hand over her shoulder to Mikoto. Mikoto took the hand.

"Promise."

* * *

"So, I have wonderful news!"

Mikoto found herself grimacing at those words before she even heard the rest of Misaki's words. Uiharu lightly swatted at Mikoto's shoulder, puffing her cheeks out at her. "Let her finish." She huffed.

The girls were all sitting around the wooden table that sat in front of the Western-style fireplace in the Western-style, now Christmas-decorated, sitting room of their home, with Kuroko and Mikoto having wrapped themselves up in a comforter together like some kind of adorable burrito. The fireplace crackled, the sound echoing in a very satisfying way, a pleasing sizzling noise.

"On Christmas Eve, Tokiwadai is hosting a reunion to celebrate the reopening of the school and the beginning of the term now that Academy City has recollected itself from the tragedy of Treefall." Misaki announced with a large smile, waving around a letter she had in her hand.

"And I went to the trouble to ensure that everyone was invited as my honored guests." She gestured toward the non-Tokiwadai students present- even Frenda, who seemed genuinely surprised.

"W-what, you barely know me?" Frenda blinked back, to which Misaki got a wry grin across her face.

"Would you really want to abandon poor Ruiko all by herself while the couples go to this event?" Misaki asked all-too-sweetly, which got Frenda to give Misaki a kind of half-lidded stare of mild contempt. For the briefest of moments, Mikoto felt disgusted kinship with Frenda.

Kuroko groaned loudly and buried her face in Mikoto's chest, Mikoto blushing intensely. "W-what's wrong?"

"I won't have arms!" Kuroko whined loudly. The whole room stared at that remark in surprise. No arms? What? Kuroko unburied herself and sighed.

"The doctor is taking my arm back to synchronize it with the second… I'm getting my second arm." Kuroko grinned broadly. "That's what that phone call was about-" Kuroko didn't get the chance to finish her sentence before Mikoto pulled her into a tight, nearly bone-breaking hug underneath the giant blanket, hiding them out of raw embarrassment. Mikoto was so thrilled but too embarrassed to show such raw lovey emotions.

"So cute." Misaki said in a teasing tone at the blanket lump. "Though a blanket doesn't qualify as privacy if you're going to be having passionate love-making." Misaki added in, the rooms light flickering as Mikoto growled angrily underneath the cloth at her.

Giggling erupted into the room a bit, a small sense of purity, as if nothing could go wrong. A moment of respite. Uiharu found her way over to Misaki, lightly leaning into her partner and smiling, closing her eyes and basking in the warmth of the older girl.

* * *

Frenda leaned back a bit as she watched the others, giving a slight smile to Ruiko as the younger dark haired girl grinned toothily at her before looking back at the shenanigans of the others.

The words of Mugino rattled around in her head as she watched the purity of what was in front of her. Find their weaknesses. Find Railguns secrets. Find anything she could use. Bring it to Mugino.

Frenda couldn't help it… She couldn't resist the involuntary physical motion. Her hand reached up toward her chest, gripping at it tightly.

Why… Why did her heart hurt so much?


	22. Chapter 22 - The Devil, Upright

Frenda adjusted her beret slightly, her breath misting a bit in her face as she weaved through the street and the holiday crowds. Their happy faces and laughing and joy grated on her foul mood. Pushing past it, she turned the corner into the small, easy to miss, private salon. It only had a few room and served as a meeting spot for ITEM and its subordinate organization.

There, waiting, was Kinuhata Saiai. One of the four members of ITEM, the wielder of the Offense Armor Esper power. She'd asked Frenda to meet her here. She was dressed in a sweater dress and tights with some fur boots to ward away the cold, looking at her phone with a sort of passive expression on her face as she waited.

"Hey, Saiai." Frenda said as she approached. She liked to consider Saiai her friend, but tension between them felt unusually high lately. Tension in ITEM itself felt high. She couldn't be the only one to notice it, right?

"Hey." Saiai tossed her phone onto the table, tucking her legs up onto the chair. Frenda sat across from her, raising an eyebrow.

"So, what's up?" Frenda asked, pushing a smile onto her face. Saiai tilted her head at Frenda, looking a bit curious. She gave a bit of a shrug.

"I was just wondering, you seemed kind of off after the last job. Something bothering you?" She asked, her hand reaching over and sliding her phone to the side after glancing at it for a moment. Frenda shifted in her chair a bit uncomfortably, the topic already shifting into a direction she didn't want to discuss. She was here now though, what else could she do?

"W-well…" Frenda took her hat off and dusted it off slightly, getting rid of some snow that had fallen on it. "When we went outside of that facility, we ran into Mugino, and she said she'd ran into some more SCHOOL operatives after we'd taken care of that Esper mercenary inside, but… those… those bodies didn't look like operatives to me, Saiai." Frenda said, not meeting the other ITEM member's eyes.

"...That's all? They could have easily been in disguise." Saiai said simply, shrugging. "Since when do you doubt the boss so much?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. Frenda glanced at her, seeing the suspicion in Saiai's gaze.

"...The looks on their faces, Saiai. They looked terrified. Like they were… running. And I didn't see any weapons around them." She added in, not answering Saiai's question. Her counterpart began to answer, but Frenda didn't give her the chance, deciding to toss in another piece of information that had begun to bother her.

"Rikou has been really sick lately. We've been pulling a lot of jobs, but this seems unusual. I always thought she was just fragile health but… Are you really sure that Ability Crystal dust is safe? Mugino says it's safe. Are you sure she's right?" Frenda asked softly, daring a glance toward Saiai.

Saiai had glanced away from Frenda, lost in a moment of thought. Frenda felt her heart pounding in her chest for a moment. She felt herself trusting Saiai less and less, just as she found herself… fearing Mugino more and more.

"Saiai… All these jobs. Hunting down SCHOOL Esper mercenaries, going after their operations… Whose bank rolling this? Who's hiring ITEM? Mugino seems to be relishing in every mission, but, it just seems so unusual to be put on such a direct confrontation with another Dark Side organization like this." Frenda said, her tone filled with doubt and agitation. Her eyes followed Saiai's, who seemed to refuse to meet with Frenda's, until eventually Frenda looked away again, staring down at the table, silence beginning to stretch on as Frenda found herself without anything else to say.

"You know what I think?" Saiai asked finally, a line of tense defensiveness in her voice, prompting Frenda to jerk her head up as she looked at her team member, the silence at last broken.

"What?" Frenda asked, a bit sharper than she intended.

"I think that girl, your target, is starting to rub off on you. You shouldn't let what's only another one of your sluts get so close. It's affecting your judgement. You're getting soft." Saiai said in a sharp, intentionally cruel tone, clearly attempting to get at Frenda. Frenda's words had bothered her, Frenda knew that. It didn't stop Frenda from getting to her feet, slamming her hands on the tabletop, shaking the entire surface, and growling at her like a feral animal.

"Fuck off!" Frenda stormed away from the table and toward the exit, Saiai not moving to stop her, only picking up her phone as she leaned her cheek into her hand as she propped her elbow up, idly sighing as if bored.

"I wonder what that little slut would think if she knew how many useless tarts just like her came and went through your bed before she did?" Saiai wondered aloud at the fleeing blonde, no response forthcoming, Frenda slamming the door behind her hard enough that the glass pane of the screen cracked.

Saiai waited a few minutes after Frenda was gone before checking her texts, clicking on the contacts. She went to the name 'Mugino'. She stared down at the waiting empty message field, pondering what to send. The last thing Mugino had sent her several hours ago that prompted her to call Frenda here…

"Can Frenda still be trusted? Find out."

Before this conversation, that question hadn't bothered her as much. The honest answer would be to express some doubts. Frenda was showing signs of cracking. Signs of… something. Frenda was doubting Mugino, at the very least. All of Saiai's taunting and mockery had gotten under Frenda's skin in a profound way that a few months ago would have, at best, earned her nothing but an uncaring shrug.

The problem was… was right now, as she pondered what to tell Mugino…

Pondered how Mugino might react based on what Saiai told her...

Saiai punched a few words into the phone and sent them to Mugino.

"Frenda's just fine. Operations can continue unchanged."

Saiai threw her phone back on the table.

...That… seemed like the right thing to do right now.

* * *

Frenda found herself storming away from the salon, her rage carrying her far, the fire burning in her eyes parting crowds in a way that one might not expect from the tiny blonde. She wasn't sure how long she walked, or how far. Eventually, she was going through the winding alleys between the more tightly packed buildings.

Eventually she paused as she needed to catch her breath in her stomping, and reorient herself on where she was exactly. She paused as she fished out her phone and flipped it open. Scrolling through the apps, her finger slipped and hit the picture gallery instead of the GPS map of Academy City that she meant.

One picture in particular caught her eye, and nostalgia beckoned her to tap it and bring it up onto the screen. As two happy blonde girls, two younger smiling faces from a couple years ago hugging each other into the selfie, grinned at her, she found herself returning the grin.

"What do we have here?"

She found the grin slide off her face as a crude voice interrupted her nostalgia. She snapped the phone shut as an unwelcome hand grabbed at her shoulder. So lost in her thoughts, she hadn't noticed the approaching figure, or any of his companions.

She looked over her shoulder at the revolting man and his companions; who, she noted, were moving to cut off the various points of egress of the alley. He smelled of cheap booze and smokes.

"I'm not in the mood. Piss off." Frenda said flatly, venom dripping in her voice. Blood pumped in her ears as anger began to boil, and she saw the man's drunken visage twist into one of impatience.

"Come on, me and my friends here are just looking to invite you out for a fun time…" His grin came back as he seemed to try to regain his, very drunken, cool.

"Walk away from me. Right now." Frenda said, her eyes shaded from view by her bangs as she tilted her head forward slightly. There was a pause as the men seemed taken off guard by the tiny girls audacity. The leader, growling, slapped the phone out of her hand, the plastic device bouncing down the alley.

"Listen you dumb bimbo bit-"

And then, Frenda saw nothing but red.

* * *

Frenda bent down and picked up her phone off of the ground, flipping it open again, checking to make sure the picture was still there. It was. Good.

She knew after she threw the first kick into the man's groin that it would have gone downhill. At that moment, she just didn't care. She was just too angry. She took a moment to turn and look at the array of bloody and broken bodies laying strewn about the alley. Five of them, in all. She hadn't bothered to count them when they'd first arrived. She stared for a minute.

She didn't know what possessed her to fish out one of the thugs phones and text Anti-Skill. They'd probably show up soon.

Some of them might even live.

She threw the thugs phone onto the ground and left, ducking security cameras and managing her way out to the appoint she knew she had today. She spared one final glance at the photograph of the two near-identical sisters in the photograph before she pocketed her phone.

* * *

Ruiko sighed a bit as she sat down on a bench in the gym. She'd been exercising and training alone all day. The numerous training sessions they'd had previously had been interesting to say the least- electric-ammo-dodging training, weapons training, 'guess the stun grenade', hand-to-hand, just to name a few… but Frenda was over an hour late. It was more than a little disappointing, to put it mildly. No response to any of her texts or call. Her concern was beginning to grow beyond her ability to dismiss.

Sighing and grabbing a towel to wipe some sweat off, a door opening and closing grabbed her attention, standing up quickly, she threw the towel down, ignoring the brief chill of winter air blowing past her as the door sealed itself shut. The figure of Frenda walked into the room, and Ruiko wasn't quite sure how to react at first. Should she be relieved? Angry?

"Frenda? Where the hell have you bee-?!" She paused as Frenda approached. Frenda's clothes looked a bit disheveled, but the most pointed concern were the fresh and obvious bloodstains on them. They weren't large, but they were there- small stains here and there. Frenda herself looked largely uninjured, which implied some unfortunates had been on the receiving end of her.

"Frenda… what happen-" She didn't get to finish the sentence before Frenda closed the distance, reaching up and grabbing at Ruiko's hair with intense aggression, pulling hard, forcing her head upward, and biting at her neck. Ruiko stumbled back, tripping and falling down. She felt Frenda's teeth rubbing into her skin, but after a few seconds, she noticed…

Frenda's heart… wasn't in it. It was a very, very weak attempt at covering up and pushing away Ruiko's alarm and concern away with passion that Frenda plain did not have at the present.

"Frenda…" Ruiko said weakly, looking down at the girl lying on top of her, not daring to meet Ruiko's eyes. "...You… you're sad." She felt so lame for saying something so blunt and what felt childish, but the truth was, is that it was all she could think of.

"Why…" Frenda whispered quietly against Ruiko's chest quietly, earning a concerned, hopeless look from her… lover? Ruiko admittedly did not know what she was to Frenda at this point. This wasn't exactly an opportune time to clarify it.

"What can I do right now? Just tell me." Ruiko asked, a slight trace of desperation in her voice.

The seconds crawled on before Frenda finally answered her. Frenda, who at this moment, felt like the world could not stop reminding her that she was exactly what, she felt, she knew she was; a monster.

"...Just, please, hold me."

And for the next few hours, on the training room floor until their backs screamed and they couldn't take it anymore and were forced to retire for the night, Ruiko did just that.


	23. Chapter 23 - The Hierophant, Upright

Frenda groaned a bit as she buried her face deeper into the pillow. An irritating, droning noise was echoing in her ear.

"Frenda."

Damn that noise. It was disrupting her sleep. She buried her face deeper and deeper into the pillow.

"Frenda, you have to get out of bed."

Frenda groaned as she turned her face, looking up at Ruiko who was standing over her, fists on her hips. She was, unlike Frenda, fully clothed. In fact, she had on a long knee-length blue dress that looked quite formal.

"Why're you so fancy?" She mumbled, her face still half-buried into the pillow.

"Because it's Christmas Eve, and you're going to the Tokiwadai reunion that Shokuhou-sama pulled us into as my… uh…" Ruiko trailed off for a moment before she decided to not finish her sentence, and lunging at the comforter, tearing it off, prompting Frenda to screech out in alarm and curl up into a pitiful freezing naked ball.

"N-n-n-noooo!" Frenda's teeth chattered out as she hugged herself.

"SHOWER AND CLOTHES! NOW!"

* * *

Frenda stared at the shower tile of the wall as the hot water poured on her head, sighing with a forlorn, depressed sense of listlessness. She'd practically been cowering here the past few days. Well, no, she hadn't stayed here entirely, she had left every day, gone out, done things. Kept busy. Stayed in contact with ITEM. Kept mostly out of sight of everyone except Ruiko… Though she suspected that telepath always knew.

But… She kept floating back here. Every night. She'd snuck in every single fucking night to sleep next to Ruiko.

Frenda slapped herself across the face, hard, hissing at the sting.

"Come on, get your shit together, you dumb bitch…" She said to herself. "There's only one way… this is going to… end…" Frenda covered her face, that same horrible conflict of thoughts clashing in her mind.

She was going to have to betray them eventually. Give Mugino what she wanted... Even if she didn't know what that was. She didn't know what Mugino wanted anymore.

"What the fuck am I going to do…?"

* * *

While emotional turmoil bubbled and boiled at the house unawares to most, medicine was practiced at the hospital of the Heaven Canceller.

Over the past year, the campus had had an expansion of facilities, likely due to the sudden need for specialized care of "problem children". Namely the clones and Mikoto and Kuroko. While attached to the main hospital, it was secure by keycard, camera, and various other more advanced methods from typical hospital visitors and patients.

As Kuroko sat on her seat in the physical therapy room, tragically armless once again after having her arm removed for calibration with her new arm, watching Mikoto going through a variety of tests and measurements to see how her physical treatment was proceeding, her mind wandered.

Initially, Kuroko had balked at the very notion that an entire add-on had been made for Mikoto and the clones, as well as her. She'd even brought it up to the Heaven Canceller. She remembered his words well.

* * *

"Why would they make an entire building expansion like that?" Kuroko's tone spoke volumes of her incredulity. Heaven Canceller turned in his chair to face her, giving her a bit of a soft smile.

"Shirai-san… Sometimes I forget that you have not seen a lot of what Misaka-san has. She hasn't blinked at it, because to her, this is one of those things that has happened so often that she has become numb." He gave that warm smile as he looked at his computer briefly.

"...There is much the Board would do to preserve the life of a Level 5. This is a drop in the bucket to them. When I asked them for funding, they didn't even bother to check the bill."

* * *

Kuroko shuddered visibly. It was sometimes just outright terrifying how much power the Board wielded. How much funding and influence they could throw around without a care. What's more… she was surprised how little consequences had fallen down on Mikoto's head so far. The Board had to know what Mikoto did. They had to know she destroyed Tree Diagram. She caused Treefall. No matter how much blame may lie at Indigo's feet for his manipulations… Mikoto was not free from responsibility. As much as Kuroko loved her, and did not blame her… she could not lie and say Mikoto was free from all responsibility. However, with all of that in mind...

And Kuroko was not, for even one second, going to entertain the notion of working for Judgement if that meant she might be on the opposing side of her beloved, in service to the Board, if they were just biding their twisted time. Because justice was clearly not followed by obeying them.

Kuroko clenched her jaw. "Because I am not their puppet." She muttered to herself under her breath.

She was stirred from her own dark thoughts by a light poke on the forehead, prompting her to look up at Mikoto, dressed in sweatpants and a t-shirt over a sports-bra with some gym shoes, mostly in grays and blacks, her finger still held up from where she'd prodded Kuroko on her temple. She looked very, very tired, her eyes somewhat drooping.

"Thanks for waiting around. Few hours until the party at Tokiwadai… gotta talk to the doctor still. Think I'll need a nap." She said tiredly. Physical therapy had clearly taken a lot out of her. Though this particular session had clearly been very intense. Kuroko hopped up and rested her head against the crook of Mikoto's neck, nuzzling it slightly.

"I'm proud of how far you've come…" she said in a tone that was a bit more protective than she intended. Mikoto blinked down at her, before resting her head on top of Kuroko's, appreciating the height different at that moment. They rested there for a moment before they were broken from their stupor.

They both felt it. Staring. Stares. On the back of their heads. It was… Unnerving. They both opened their eyes and turned to find… three sets of eyes on them. Three identical sets of eyes, blankly staring at them.

"How… how long have you been standing there?" Mikoto asked the three identical sets of clones of herself.

"Misaka does not know what you are referring to, Misaka-10032 says, feigning innocence."

"Neither does Misaka, Misaka-19090 says, also pretending to be unaware."

"Misaka has a sports drink for onee-sama, Misaka-10046 says, being a good younger sibling, in an attempt to place Misaka-19090 and Misaka-10032 in a poor light." Misaka-10046 offered a sports drink in a gym bottle to Mikoto, who could only stare on as she felt that familiar flow of tingling in her mind grow more pronounced, words actually forming in her head as the Network stirred to more distinct activity within her.

"Misaka-10032 thinks Misaka-10046 is being a schemer aiming to get on onee-sama's good side, Misaka-10032 accuses angrily." One of the clones pointed at Misaka-10046 accusingly.

"Misaka-19090 agrees wholeheartedly with Misaka-10032, and thinks some action should be taken, Misaka-19090 says in an angry implication of unpleasantness." the other clone joined in.

Kuroko clung on to Mikoto, as best she could with just stumps and no arms, her eyes wide and in shock. She'd briefly seen the clones in passing several times during hospital stays, but this was honestly the first time she'd truly seem them interact extensively. She looked up at Mikoto for some level of stability as the clones continued to bicker in their monotone narrative, and found that Mikoto's expression was mostly one of mild exasperation, rubbing her head.

"I think I feel a headache coming on…" Mikoto said with a slight laugh, uncapping the sports drink and taking a sip.

"Misaka-san? The doctor is ready to see you now." A nurse said as she walked up to them, seeming to have grown just as used to the clones as Mikoto was, if not moreso. Mikoto gave her a smile and a nod, turning to Kuroko and hugging her close, quietly wishing she had a hand she could take.

"Come on… they'll probably be arguing for awhile. I can hear bits and pieces of the argument in my head. The whole Network is weighing in on it now." Mikoto gladly escaped, the clones blissfully unaware as they moved along. Kuroko happily joined her, looking over her shoulder at the young girls that shared her beloved's face.

This city… was so strange sometimes.

* * *

Sitting in his office that had become so very familiar, Kuroko pulled in for the ride, Misaka looked at the Heaven Canceller anxiously, awaiting the results.

"I can happily report that you've definitely progressed well, Misaka-san." He said with a grandfatherly tone with just a hint of pride in his voice. Just a small hint beneath his layers of professionalism.

"You have shown leaps and bounds of progress on your balance and muscle strength. Your transplanted organs have, unsurprisingly, suffered no rejection. They are, effectively, your organs." He smiled, Misaka beginning to brighten, but it was clear by her apprehension that she knew there was bad news coming.

"But..?" She cut in, tilting her head. He sighed and nodded sadly.

"Yes, there is a but. We did another scan on your brain, and unfortunately... the copper neurotoxins damage is permanent. I'm afraid those dizzy spells and your ability to fully retain your balance are unlikely to ever fully recover." He said softly, his expression matching his voice as it tried to break the news as easily as he could.

Mikoto leaned forward a bit, taking a long deep breath before she leaned up and smiled. Somehow, as Kuroko sat in her chair, staring at Mikoto, she felt something in her stir, emotions twisting in her gut as she saw that smile.

"If Kuroko can learn to live and adapt after losing her arms and powers, I can figure out how to deal with a little dizziness and balance issues." She said, giving an exhale, as if blowing out her anxiety from her lungs. There was a pause from the other two in the room, before Heaven Canceller gave a smile and nodded.

"Of course… Just let me know if I can be of assistance."

Mikoto nodded, rubbing her head a little and sighing, clearly still nursing a headache. This did not go unnoticed by the dear doctor.

"Onto the next subject. How is the connection to the Misaka Network?" He asked softly, looking at her with concern. Kuroko's eyes darted at Mikoto, trying not to look overwhelmingly concerned even though she very much was. This was a topic she hadn't really pushed on, because she didn't understand it whatsoever. It was so… beyond her understanding.

"Honestly? It's gotten stronger. I catch more words, and more emotions all the time. Though sometimes… It feels like the Network is irregular. Like the total number of minds fluctuates." Mikoto rubbed her head a bit as she tried to articulate her thoughts, rubbing her head a bit as the doctor listened, nodding his head a bit.

"Are you concerned at all for your individuality?" He asked, furthering the conversation. She shook her head in response.

"No, never had that concern. I'm still me."

There was a pause in the air as the doctor filled out the notes, Mikoto answering a few more trivial questions before she looked down at her hands, then turning and looking at Kuroko, who blinked at her and smiled. She softly returned the smile with her own.

"I'm still me." She repeatedly softly.

* * *

As the pair were driven home, Anti-Skill having sent a couple troopers to serve as their escort and driver, it hadn't been more than a minute before Mikoto had her head in Kuroko's lap, sound asleep. Kuroko looked down at the almighty Railgun, exhausted and napping, from her long afternoon.

"Oh, Mikoto… Nap well." Kuroko smiled, before letting out a nervous laugh.

"We… haven't even made it to the Christmas Eve party yet."

* * *

Kuroko and Mikoto stared at the doors of the large clubhouse owned by Tokiwadai, gulping a bit. Both their phones had texts from their friends scolding them for being very, very tardy. They'd just been so unbelievably tired after their time at the hospital.

"Still…" Kuroko chimed in, glancing at Mikoto, who was dressed in her long, dark orange kimono that she'd gotten for herself as part of the giftset for her and Kuroko. "...It's kind of nice to be back in School Garden." Mikoto gave a nod in return, smiling as she looked at Kuroko, who was dressed in the dark blue kimono of her own. Mercifully, both were in heavier woolen coats.

"Stuck between the cold and not wanting to face the inside of the party." Mikoto groaned out, sighing. Inevitably, both steeled themselves before stepping forward, Mikoto opening the door for them both, and stepping inside.

* * *

"Swarmed" would have been an extremely generous term. It did not take long before Kuroko and Mikoto were practically surrounded on all sides by various Tokiwadai students who seemed overjoyed to see them. For the most part, it was a great deal of mundane, polite, well-practiced pleasantries that Kuroko and Mikoto had done a thousand times before.

Mikoto had spotted Misaki on an upper level of the clubhouse that looked down on the floor below, clearly watching them, and clearly doing absolutely nothing to help. Mikoto fixed her with a single venomous glare for as long as she could before she had to revert to her polite visage before anyone noticed.

It had been so long, Mikoto had forgotten just how much of a celebrity she was in her school. To nearly every single student, she was "Misaka-sama". She was revered and respected. It seemed like that had not changed whatsoever, if anything, it had only grown. Gotten worse, in her opinion. She had never really been a fan of star treatment. Glancing at Kuroko… waves of pity flew off of her onto her partner.

Kuroko seemed like she was paralyzed. Kuroko had always been, to the others, her attachee. The inevitable and unsurprising friend that would follow Mikoto around, because why wouldn't Mikoto have someone who would be so unfalteringly loyal to her? But after the news blast and propaganda campaign that the Board had run? That was not quite what was happening. What was happening was that the girls were treating her… a lot more like how they were treating Mikoto.

Kuroko seemed like she had no idea how to respond. She was doing her absolute best to give polite responses and greetings, but the attention was clearly already starting to get to her- she hadn't endured this nonsense for years like Mikoto had.

Mikoto's attention was jerked back as a familiar face managed to part the crowd with her very dramatic entrance, and her very dramatic fan.

"Misaka-san! Shirai-san! Oh, I've been so worried!" Kongou Mitsuko made her flourishing entrance and the other students leaned back if only to avoid accidentally getting hit in the face with the fan. As Kongou launched herself into a long speech that the two could barely keep up with, Mikoto admittedly distracted as dizziness was starting to overwhelm her, leaning on her crutch more and more.

"S-sorry, Kongou-san, but I think I need to sit down." Mikoto cut in apologetically, laughing a little. "It's hard for me to stand in one place for too long these days." She added, tilting her head toward the crutch for emphasis, the various students around giving her looks of pity with their nods that, really, grated on her nerves in a very profound way.

As they made their way to a table for them to get seated, most of the girls having awareness to give them space, Kongou did something that, in retrospect, Mikoto should have realized was eventually going to cause a problem.

"It's good to have you back Shirai-san. I hope you our past rivalry won't cause any problem-" She hugged Kuroko, surprising the young former teleporter. Mid-sentence, the Japanese aristocrat froze. Kongou backed away from Kuroko, her hands moving to her mouth, looking horrified. Kuroko just looked confused.

"U-um, Kongou-san? It's fine, really, I was just surpris-" Kuroko tried to dismiss any awkwardness.

"Your arms." Kongou whispered, her tone sounding just as horrified as her expression. Kuroko blinked several times, and Mikoto grimaced as she had that dawning realization. She looked around and saw that attention was once again coming toward them. Misaki above, still watching, had her amused expression slide off her face.

Right. All of their friends knew. They had all grown used to it. But… Kuroko's loss was not public knowledge, and Anti-Skill kept media away from them.

"O-oh." Kuroko blinked, glancing down at the long, empty kimono sleeves that had been concealing her disability. "It's… it's fine. I've grown used to it."

Mikoto looked around, and saw that others were still migrating toward them, and despite her pride, her love for Kuroko won out, and she glared up at Misaki.

"DO SOMETHING." She mouthed silently to the girl.

* * *

Misaki admittedly, deep down, felt a welling of satisfaction as she saw those words mouthed at her. She glanced over as she saw Uiharu walk up next to her, raising an eyebrow. Uiharu was dressed in a rather modest lavender dress with three faded frills toward the bottom around her knees, strapless only because Misaki insisted it made her look cuter.

"Looks like Kuroko and Misaka need rescuing." Misaki grinned widely before turning to her second-in-command, who was never far off from her. Hokaze Junko, the girl with the most fantastical violet ringlet hair that danced down her back.

"Junko-chan… If you'd be so kind." Misaki grinned like a cat that ate the canary. The girl in question bowed respectfully before moving to the top of the balcony that overlooked the main floor of the clubhouse.

"If I may have your attention." Her voice was level, spoken as if at room volume, but it echoed as to be heard by all- a slight crackle of electricity running along the length of her throat for a moment as she spoke.

"I thank you all for coming to our reunion and celebration of the reopening of the school year of Tokiwadai Middle School. Tokiwadai has the great duty to produce leaders and pioneers across all avenues of society, and though tragedy and misfortune plagued our great city and institution, we are very pleased to see that our time as students can once again begin anew."

Misaki smiled as Junko began her speech, as planned, taking Uiharu's hand and guiding her along away from the attention. Misaki liked attention, but not PUBLIC attention, certainly not.

She glanced down at Mikoto and Kuroko, and it seemed her plan had mostly worked. Eyes had been drawn from them and to Junko and her speech. It at least had bought them the time they needed to relax and get adjusted after being swarmed as they had. Mikoto and Kuroko definitely owed her for that one later-

A swat on her nose knocked her out of her scheming mind. She blinked rapidly as she tried to refocus herself, looking down at the shorter Uiharu who had flicked her on the nose.

"Stoppit." Uiharu scolded, pouting at her. "Just be nice. It doesn't always have to be about a scheme or owing someone."

Misaki opened her mouth to respond, but found herself unable to say anything to that pouting face.

"Fine…"

* * *

Meanwhile, the two in particular who felt quite out of place watched events unfolding from a corner third floor balcony.

"Wanna make out?" Frenda asked jokingly, resting her chin in her palm as she placed an elbow on the railing, observing the speech being made with slight contempt.

Ruiko didn't quite dignify that with a response, but couldn't help but laugh a bit.

"Feel a little out of place, huh?" She asked, glancing at Frenda, the blonde dressed up in a black sleeveless dress far longer than the others, though it had a long cut up the side nearly to her hip.

"...Yeah." Frenda said quietly, staring out as she watched the speech go on. She didn't notice as Ruiko watched her, her frown deepening.

What had happened to the joyful and energetic Frenda? That Frenda was growing increasingly rare. Instead it was this… trouble girl. This troubled, very secretive girl.

"I'm going to be having a talk with Misaki after the first of the year. I'm going after Indigo's operations." Ruiko said rather suddenly. There was an almost audible pause in the air. Frenda slowly turned to face Ruiko, the expression on her face a mixture of raw disbelief mixed with… fear?

"Are you… that is... what… the… fuck?" Frenda sputtered out, trying to collect her thoughts, though Ruiko decided to continue before she could.

"I wasn't learning everything from you just for fun. That asshole hurt my friends, and he is lurking out there still. I might not be able to hurt him directly, but I'm going to break his stuff." Ruiko said, stepping forward and leaning against the railing that Frenda had previously been using. "Will you come with me?"

Frenda paused, her eyes following Ruiko as she moved to the railing. She stared at her for a long time, Ruiko patiently waiting for her answer. Her mind reeled. What was she going to say? She saw that look in Ruiko's eye. She was determined. That same look she gave her in the hospital when she asked her for training. She was going to do this, with or without her.

"You are fucking unbelievable…" Frenda covered her face, wanting to just fall over, leaning into the railing.

"What if that fucking monster says no?" She says, glancing down where Misaki and Uiharu were making disgusting googly eyes at each other. It made her want to gag. There was less contempt in her voice for Misaki as there was pure raw fear of her. In a way, Ruiko could empathize… but didn't understand quite where this sudden fear was coming from.

"One way or another, I'll be doing something. I'm tired of inaction." Ruiko said, shrugging, glancing down and scanning the room once more. "I've thought about this a lot. I may be just a little Level 0… but this is my decision. So?" She looked at Frenda again.

With a long, forlorn sigh, Frenda rubbed her face. "Fucking hell…" She reached and played at a necklace she had, Ruiko craning her neck a little curiously but couldn't quite get a look at it before Frenda answered her.

"Yeah… someone has to keep you alive, I guess." She finally relented, giving Ruiko a weak, though affectionate smile.

With a grin, Ruiko leaned over and wordlessly kissed the girl. Deep down, as their lips met, Frenda felt an overwhelming guilt weigh down on her.

Why… did kissing her back feel like a lie?

Why did it make her hate herself so much?

* * *

Mikoto was increasingly thankful the speech went on as long as it did. Still, Kongou, along with her friends Wannai Kinuho and Awatsuki Maaya, who Mikoto and Kuroko could still happily call their friends as well, were anxiously sitting at the table with them. It was not unsurprising that they were interested in answers of some kind. Wannai, a girl with a dirty-blonde colored short hair style and a shy demeanor, and Awatsuki, a girl with long dark black-blueish hair, were both looking at Kuroko and Mikoto with great concern.

"So… we understand if it is a delicate subject, but…" Wannai began, glancing to the side toward Kongou and Awatsuki.

"It's fine." Kuroko cut in quickly. She glanced around for a moment, mostly out of an effort to avoid a scene before nodding to Mikoto. Mikoto reached over and helped roll up a sleeve, showing the metal-capped end of her limb. The three girls collectively gasped, which earned a slight laugh from Kuroko at, what seemed at this point, seemed quite overdramatic.

"It's a receptor for my prosthetics. They're… in the shop. So to speak." Kuroko explained, smiling softly to the girls. The concern and pity was etched over their faces, prompting her to sigh.

"Please… I've come to terms with it. My arms were a small price to pay to protect this city… and Mikoto." She said softly. She glanced over at the girl in question, whose face had turned a burning brick red, her bangs obscuring her face slightly. Kuroko's heart skipped a beat for a moment, craning her head, but saw that it wasn't shame… just raw embarrassment.

Kuroko glanced to the three girls who were looking at the two girls questioningly, and it was Wannai who seemed to have a light bulb spring over her head first.

"It… couldn't be?" She said with a hint of doubt in her voice. In response, Kuroko grinned brightly and flopped over to rest her head against Mikoto's shoulder, nuzzling it affectionately, and much to the shock of all present, rather than the usual reaction those came to expect, Mikoto only glanced away looking increasingly embarrassed.

"C-come on, Kuroko, w-we're in public…" Mikoto stuttered out, her face increasingly red and flustered at the other girls public displays of affection. Eventually, Kuroko relented, though Mikoto was so unbelievably flustered and embarrassed she couldn't scrounge up the will to look at the other girls who looked almost scandalized the sudden turn of events.

Kuroko looked pleased however and went back to the conversation.

"Like I said. Worth it." She said with a proud, toothy grin.

* * *

Uiharu was sitting at a table next to Misaki, her face as red as could be. This was something she was still, after many times of occurrence, and many many months, not used to. At all. WHATSOEVER.

While they showered Misaki with attention, referring to her as their Queen, Uiharu had prepared herself when they had begun dating for spite and hatred and jealousy. What she had received was a kind of sidelong respect and reverence.

"Anyone worthy to be romantically involved with the Queen is worthy of respect."

That was the logic used by just about everyone involved within Misaki's faction, and so, Uiharu sat next to their Queen with some tea, blushing, periodically doted upon by the various members of the faction. "Uiharu-sama" was the name she was referred to by, and her consistent flustered embarrassment was her charm to them.

So now Uiharu sipped her tea while sticking very close to Misaki who grinned down at her.

"Holding up OK?"

"I don't… do well with this much attention…" She said quietly, sipping her tea. Misaki only chuckled slightly, glancing up and admiring the crowd of people around her. Her faction had taken over a small number of tables in one half of the second level of the clubhouse. It was a rather common occurrence during such school festivities.

Hours had gone by during the party, time winding on by, and even Misaki had to admit the night was wearing on late. She only had a couple more objectives she needed to accomplish tonight. Such objectives were presently approaching now.

She rose from her seat as she placed her tea cup down, offering her arm to Uiharu who took it with a flush of shyness. She walked out from the sea of her followers as they parted for her, approaching Kuroko and Mikoto as they got up the stairs, both of them looking exhausted.

"How has the evening treated you?" Misaki asked the pair with a knowing smile. Mikoto gave her a profound glare, though Kuroko looked mostly pleased.

"Well… Eventually, everyone found out about my arms… Wasn't something I thought about keeping secret. And then everyone found out about us~!" Kuroko nearly sang, nuzzling up against a blushing Mikoto, who looked like she could just die on the spot from embarrassment.

Misaki seemed overly pleased at Mikoto's discomfort, but alas, watching Mikoto squirm was not her final objective. She spun as Saten and Frenda approached, her grin widening. There was her objective. As she guided Uiharu toward the approaching girls, she was met by the third party in question.

"Frenda-san, Saten-san, Haru-chan, may I introduce you to someone very esteemed…" Misaki began, turning their attention to a far older figure that had approached the gathering girls, all of whom turned to face her. The woman was well-dressed, formal, more business-oriented than the rest. If the rest were here to have fun, she was most definitely here to chaperone. She was likely somewhere in her early to late 60's.

"May I introduce Unabara-sama, the Director of Tokiwadai Middle School."


	24. Chapter 24 The Lovers, Upright

Nerve-wracking was a great way of describing the current atmosphere that Mikoto felt surrounding her. Back in the hospital yet again, waiting on Kuroko to be released. All she could do was pace around the facility and wait. Pacing was so much harder when your mobility was limited. Still, it was a good way to practice walking without the full assistance of her crutch.

Walking down a hall with her crutch off the ground in her hand, it was really just like walking normally. It more the issue that periodically she realized she would start tipping to one side or the other and had to self-correct, consciously. She focused on the effort, and not on the frustration, or the pit in her stomach when she remembered that this was what her life was going to be like now.

Mikoto paused and tried just standing in one spot, letting herself take deep breaths. Thankfully, this wasn't nearly as difficult, even if she wobbled a bit. There had to be a way she could address this… Something. She glanced at her crutch again, pondering how she had regained her balance in her spar with Kuroko, bending it around like a snake. Maybe…

She realized in her daze she had begun to tip over, blinking several times as she did an imitation of a chopped tree. She found her hand grabbed suddenly and her back held up by a pair of arms, eliciting a gasp out of her.

A quick look around found her in the protective grasp of her little sisters, a pair of clones who gave her passive expressions as they always did.

"Onee-sama should be more careful. Her condition is fragile, Misaka-10046 states, expressing deep concern." The clone holding her hand said, helping her onto her feet, while the other helped guide her to sit down on a nearby cushioned bench. Mikoto couldn't help but smile a little at their concern.

"Hey guys. Thanks for the save." They nodded in return, staring at her. Mikoto rubbed the side of her head, feeling awkward. She wasn't that great of a big sister, she felt. She just… wasn't great at it.

"Happy Holidays, by the way. I wasn't really sure what you guys might want, and there's so many of you, so I thought you guys might like to share this…" Mikoto fished out a small device from her pocket and offered it to them, one clone picking it up and looking at it curiously while the other bent over and looked at it with equal curiosity.

"What is it? Misaka-13577 asks with great curiosity as she examines the tiny mechanical device, poking it." Misaka-13577 said, poking it curiously.

"It's a holographic book storage. I figured that was one of those things you'd all be able to get enjoyment out of together…" Mikoto said, her voice trailing off, with just a hint of doubt in her words. Could anyone blame her? She wasn't exactly well-practiced at this big sister thing.

Nonetheless, the two clones seemed quite enthused by the gift, and the Network buzzed energetically in her head. As they grew more engrossed in the device and opened up the holographic display, Mikoto leaned back into the seat, and decided to do something she very rarely did. She closed her eyes and let herself sink into her mind, pushing at the edges of the Misaka Network.

She, in truth, was frightened of it. And she knew that they knew. She couldn't really hide anything from them anymore, at least not anything of significance. She almost never pushed at the boundaries of the the Network, afraid to lose herself in it. However, each of them could always remember their own serial numbers, right? They maintained a level of individuality. She could remember that she was Mikoto.

It was actually remarkably dizzying, like the feeling of expecting an extra step up a staircase in the darkness, the sudden drop of your foot through the air. The Network was almost beyond describing, just a vast connection of electrical impulses connected in a network of AIM fields that stretched far beyond normal human senses. Information abounded, like their own personal internet.

And… There was a lot of Kuroko in here. A lot more than she was expecting. Which seemed… strange. She didn't have long to dwell on it before it was drowned out by current events. The chattering of identical voices- almost identical, there was a single lone voice that was far higher pitched and slightly different in voice pattern- were excitedly discussing in their own monotone way about the gift that the two clones in front of her were looking at.

"All of your thoughts are in the waaaay! Misaka says as Misaka whines!" Came one bratty sounding complaint.

"There are a great many books in this device, Misaka-10777 observes."

"Onee-sama has chosen a good gift, Misaka-13463 agrees."

"Is Onee-sama here with us now? Misaka-10032 asks, noticing Onee-sama and her distinct emotional brainwaves."

It was at this point that she felt an overwhelming amount of attention suddenly focused on her brainwaves, and you don't know stage-fright until you feel the attention of over nine THOUSAND minds suddenly turn directly at you. She buckled.

Mikoto gasped as she opened her eyes and found her two clones in front of her staring as she pulled herself out of the Network, as far as she was able to at least, which left that lingering surface-level connection. She still felt the hyper-focused attention, but it was so much less intense.

"Is Onee-sama OK? Misaka-10046 asks with concern, tilting her head to further show such emotion." One of her little sisters asked, her head doing just that. Mikoto waved off the worries, though a little sweat was on her brow as her heart pounded in her chest. That was a little more intense than she was expecting.

"M-MIKOTO!" She heard the slightly scared sounding voice of Kuroko calling for her down the hall, the sound echoing. Mikoto's heart nearly sank into her stomach as she leaped out of her seat, grabbing at her crutch as her sisters helped her not fall over. Shit! Was someone attacking her? Was she OK? Did something go wrong with her arms being attached?!

Mikoto didn't wait to find out those answers as she moved as fast as she could to get to where she heard Kuroko calling for her. Three hallways later toward where she had been originally planning to meet with Kuroko, she got her answer. It was not in the least was she was expecting.

What she found was a slightly frightened, alarmed, and extremely confused looking Kuroko, and FOUR of her little sisters. Four little sister clones that were surrounding Kuroko. Two of them were clinging onto Kuroko's brand new cobalt blue cybernetic arms, one on each. Another was behind her, and seemed to be fixing the long single tail of hair that ended near the back of her knees, tied at neck level with a ribbon, that neither Kuroko or Mikoto had figured out what to do with yet. The fourth was in front of her, bent over slightly to be eye level with her, seemingly examining her face with curiosity. Mikoto stared for a moment in her own confusion, and it was at that aforementioned moment, she felt it. Infatuation. It was her own infatuation, her, admittedly though oft-understated, intense love for Kuroko. The problem was the direction it was coming from.

It was coming FROM THE NETWORK. And as the Sisters in unison looked at her with gazes of slight jealousy, the only thing Mikoto could think of was how sorry she was for what she might have gotten Kuroko into with this relationship.

How does one phrase "my clone hivemind seems to be sharing some of my emotions, particularly my love for you" delicately? That was a Future-Mikoto problem.

"Um… guys… Could you… please release my girlfriend?" Mikoto asked, politely, with just a hint of "I'll beat you with my crutch if you don't" mixed into her words. There was a pause, followed by some monotone pouting.

"The Misaka's don't understand why only Onee-sama can enjoy Kuroko's company, Misaka-19090 says with envy." One arm-clutching Misaka complained.

"Shouldn't sisters share? Misaka-10032 adds, wondering why Onee-sama is being selfish." The other arm-clutching Misaka added in.

Those words made both Mikoto and Kuroko turn several shades of red. Mikoto wasn't sure she'd ever seen Kuroko blush that fiercely before. Mikoto could barely find any coherent words to reply, just doing an imitation of a goldfish as she was left bewildered by her own clones. Thankfully, Kuroko was a little world wiser than Mikoto.

"U-um, s-so, as flattering as this is, I really, uh... " Kuroko attempted to begin, her face still burning red, but doing her utmost to compose herself like the upper class lady that she tried to be. "I really do need to get Mikoto home, we've holiday appointments to keep and I have… something I really need to do, so maybe we could… pin this conversation for another time?" Kuroko said in the most convincing way she could.

The Sisters pouted more in their monotone fashion, but her words were enough to motivate Mikoto to action, using her crutch to practically pry the girls off of Kuroko, who relented with a unified sigh and little resistance.

"Thank you for the gift, Onee-sama." The clones all said, bowing politely, as if they had not just pseudo-molested her girlfriend. As much as Mikoto wanted to be irritated with them, part of her was having a really hard time of it. The emotions they were feeling… They were HER emotions. Or… all of their emotions now? Oh, this was already giving her a migraine.

Mikoto returned the bow, as did Kuroko. "You're welcome. I hope you enjoy it." She said with a slight sigh. "Love you guys…" She said quietly, her face flushed, rubbing the back of her head, before hobbling off, not making eye contact, even as she felt a buzz in her head as she said it.

* * *

As Kuroko and Mikoto sat in the car on the way home, Kuroko gave Mikoto a bit of a side-eye before turning fully, crossing her new, fully attached arms, and raising an eyebrow, waiting for some manner of explanation. Kuroko always knew when she was hiding something these days. She had been become frightfully good at picking up on it.

Mikoto turned to answer her, but was surprised when Kuroko lightly grasped both her cheeks with her new hands, gingerly and softly, kissing her on the lips in a chaste, soft kiss. She let it linger, the car mercifully driving with a smoothness that did not disrupt it in the slightest. As they parted, Kuroko smiled at her.

"I wanted that to be the first thing I used them for." Kuroko smiled to her softly, her grin a bit infectious, starting to lean over to kiss her more, when a light wrap of knuckles against plastic broke the pair out of their own little world. They turned to look at the Anti-Skill who was giving them an extremely judgemental look from the passenger seat.

"Really, kids?" The purple-haired woman, who the girls recalled was named Yomikawa Aiho.

"S-sorry sensei." The pair said, blushing intensely as they untangled from each other and sat like good children. After a few moments of silence, eventually, their hands slid over to each other, as a soft skin hand wrapped around a warm metal counterpart.

Soft smiles, gracing their blushing faces.

* * *

After being dropped off at the house and waving at the officers, the pair walked toward the front doors.

"So the Network is… picking up on your emotions?" Kuroko asked quietly, sounding kind of bewildered.

"Yeah… The Network, the Sisters… they're individuals, but they're also part of each other… and I guess that means I am also part of them. I'm me, but I am also part of them. Which means that, I guess after all this time, they have been getting some of my emotions leaking over into the Network. I feel emotion far more powerfully than they do. It's not surprising that I might have been accidentally affecting it without realizing it. They choose what hits the Network a lot more. I just can't help but wonder how much of the Network I've been picking up on with my behavior… How much has the Network affected how I behave? What choices I've made?"

Mikoto's words rather quickly became a bit of a rambling mess, and it was clear that everything that had just happened had thrown her for a loop. The Network was yet another thing that had been sidelined and not dealt with in this disaster of a situation.

Kuroko's eyes were filled with overwhelming concern as they paused at the front door, holding on to both of Mikoto's hands. Mikoto gave her a soft smile, shrugging a little. Kuroko could only sigh in response to that, before giving an actual reply.

"Well, I admit, I never really considered the idea that the clones…" Kuroko paused, shaking her head. "Your little sisters would be affected like this, and… honestly, I don't know how to process this yet. We'll have to deal with it later. For now… let's just enjoy our holiday. OK?" Kuroko squeezed Mikoto's hands lightly, and she couldn't help but notice just how well calculated and measured it was. Her control of her grip really was amazing at this point- at least when she really focused on it.

"Yeah. Let's go." She smiled, kissing Kuroko's forehead, turning, and heading inside.

* * *

One very energetic and filling dinner later, Maika had departed for her own holiday with her brother at the girls insistence. Even a maid needed to have a holiday now and again. Now, with full bellies and tired eyes, the six girls that remained were in the sitting room, relaxing.

Kuroko had her head resting in Mikoto's lap, staring up at her, frowning in concern. The pair had found a comfortable spot on the loveseat. Mikoto's face was, unknown to its owner, twisted into one of outright disgust and hatred.

"That's not exactly an expression of holiday cheer, Mikoto." Kuroko said softly, reaching up and gently touching her cheek. Mikoto blinked as she looked down at the girl in her lap, snapped out of her thoughts.

"W-what?" Mikoto blinked, slightly surprised and alarmed.

Kuroko turned and looked over at the source of such an outpouring of negativity. Reclining at one corner of the room on a large pile of blankets was Ruiko, smiling, eyes closed, and clearly crashed from how much she'd eaten, her arms wrapped around the waist of Frenda who she had firmly pulled against her. Frenda herself was leaning her head back into Ruiko's chest, her own eyes closed. The pair seemed to be asleep.

Kuroko did admit to being surprised. Ruiko had rather abruptly started showing physical affection to Frenda at the start of the day, to the point that even Frenda seemed to be surprised. The only one unsurprised was Misaki, which seemed like a giant red flag that this wasn't something new. Just something that wasn't something people knew about. She wasn't sure what had made Ruiko suddenly so… eager to express it.

"What is it about Frenda that makes you so angry? It's not even anger it's… loathing." Kuroko looked up at Mikoto again, concern etched across her face. Mikoto glanced away, uncertainty in her eyes.

"I… Frenda was once involved, however ancillary, with the Level 6 Shift Project." Mikoto said softly. As the words came out, she felt Kuroko tense in her lap. Mikoto, despite her hatred for Frenda, felt the need to be honest. She could tell Kuroko was ready to leap to conclusions.

"Frenda had no idea what the project was or what it entailed or… anything really. She was, at best, a mercenary hired to stop my reckless rampage through the city. And she almost succeeded." Mikoto looked up again at the blonde, who in her sleep, looked like the cutest, most harmless thing in the world. She even snored cutely. Even Mikoto had to admit that.

"I'm fairly certain that little blonde gave me one of the most savage beatings I have ever gotten in my entire life." Mikoto grimaced, remembering the pain. Kuroko looked at Frenda with a sharp, needle-like glare, pushing up from her lounging posture in Mikoto's lap like she was debating throttling Frenda in her sleep.

Mikoto clenched her jaw as she seemed to struggle with something. Both girls attention were snapped as a voice cut into their conversation.

"But she saved Saten-chan's life." Came the silky smooth voice of Misaki. The starry-eyed telepath strode up to the pair, dressed in a long robe, stretching a bit. Uiharu was snoozing next to the fireplace where Misaki had left her, wrapped up in a blanket like an adorable cocoon of warmth. "Maybe give her a little bit of credit." Misaki said softly, winking playfully at the pair.

"How do you figure?" Kuroko asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Who do you think found and cared for her in that freezing rain? Or rescued her from that van we saw her abducted in?" Misaki asked, shrugging innocently. "Perhaps the little mercenary is more complicated than you give her credit. Or perhaps the world is more complicated than you two wish it to be." She offered, sighing.

"Come now… It's the holiday. You two shouldn't get so worked up. No one is here to harm anyone. Do you really think I'd let that happen?" She said ominously, before turning away and returning to Uiharu's side without another word. Kuroko and Mikoto watched her go, falling back into their seat. As their thoughts returned to contemplation, Mikoto decided that she wouldn't let her plans get derailed by unpleasant thoughts.

"Hey Kuroko… Come on." She grabbed Kuroko's surprised hands and tugged her off the couch. Grabbing her crutch, she pulled her along up the stairs and toward their room, leaving the other couples behind. As they slid into their room, Mikoto closed the door behind them, the click of a lock sending up significant alarm in Kuroko.

"Mi...koto?" Kuroko trailed off, turning around to face her as Mikoto closed the distance rather suddenly, the lights of the room turning off of their own accord. Or rather, of Mikoto's electromagnetic will. Kuroko let out a squeak of surprise as she fell onto their bed, the turn of events not something she was expecting whatsoever.

She felt Mikoto's hands grab at hers, and for the first time in nearly a year and a half, a sensation filled her. Electrical impulses rocketing down her arm and into her body, soothing now-synthetic nerves. No pain needed to be alleviated, but it made the sensation no less pleasant. She wanted to say something, but Mikoto wasn't letting her get a word out, their lips pushed together firmly, and even there, she felt little jolts of electricity escaping into her. It was… euphoric.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Mikoto paused for breath, panting. Kuroko was glad she could take a moment to catch her own.

"W-wow…" Kuroko panted out, letting out a slightly jittery chuckle. "That was a bit bold, getting… brav...er…?" Kuroko trailed off as she looked up at Mikoto, her face getting redder in the darkness as she saw Mikoto grabbing at the hem of her own top, pulling it up, looking away from Kuroko, her face illuminated only by the light of the full moon shining through the windows.

"D-don't stare…" Came the highly bashful response from the Railgun. Kuroko couldn't help it. Was… Was Mikoto stripping? Was Kuroko dreaming? This had to be a dream.

There was a loud, incredibly overjoyed voice in the back of Kuroko's head that was practically singing songs of celebration that this moment was happening right now. Mikoto was finally doing this? Finally? Yet, despite that singing voice, Kuroko reached up and softly grabbed at Mikoto's hands as her shirt was half way up, pulling her down onto the bed and crawling on top of her, her partners face burning redder as she straddled her.

"Are you sure?" Kuroko asked softly. There were so many parts of her that did not want to ask that question, but those voices ran off hormones and lust, not love and affection. And as much as it was tempting to listen to the former, she forced herself to obey the latter.

The last thing she wanted tomorrow was to wake up and look at her beloved and see an expression of regret.

Mikoto looked up at Kuroko, staring her in the eyes, blinking in surprise. She paused, before reaching up and touching both of Kuroko's cheeks.

"Yes."

It was all Kuroko needed to hear.


	25. Chapter 25 - The Chariot, Reversed

Kuroko groaned slightly as the sun peeked over the horizon, light shining in through the large windows of the couples bedroom wall, shivering. She didn't yet dare open her eyes, just blindly reaching around under the comforter for the remote that turned the heater inside of the blanket on. The heated blanket was the best purchase they'd ever invested in. As she found it and very carefully turned it up, she felt light shifting beneath her, and her morning fogginess began to fade from her mind.

Her eyes cracked open and she looked on the still sleeping face of Mikoto, her hair scattered about on the pillow under her head, undone from the braid she normally wore it in these days. Kuroko was on top of her, her head softly resting against Mikoto's rather well-endowed chest, a recent physical maturation Kuroko knew Mikoto was secretly quite proud and happy about, having drifted off after an exhausting evening.

An exhausting… fulfilling… wonderful… fun...

Oh, so very, awkward evening. If there was anything she was not prepared for in all of her dreams and fantasies, anything at all, was just how unbelievably awkward last night was. Neither of them had any idea what they were doing. Once they'd managed to get past that, however, it had been…

"Kuroko?" Kuroko snapped out of her daydreaming, wiping a slight line of drool that had started to trail down from her mouth as Mikoto stirred from her own sleep, her voice groggy and tired.

"M-morning!" She said, flushing slightly, leaning forward and nuzzling against her beloved's neck. "S-so… um… Do you… have any…?"

She felt Mikoto wrap her arms around her tightly, pulling her to her chest in a firm hug, little bits of static and electric jolts running up and down her spine. It comforted her that Kuroko cared to ask, but really, at this point, regrets?

"Not one." Mikoto said honestly, even if she did mirror Kuroko's thoughts on just how unbelievably awkward last night was. She had been hoping that Kuroko would have known more about what to do, but pervert or not, was it really all that surprising that Kuroko's actual REAL experience was non-existent?

The hug- completely naked hug Mikoto could not help but note silently with a blush- carried on under the heated blanket for the better part of a very comfortable silent hour, the pair simply soaking in the warmth of each others loving embrace and company, before Mikoto spoke up first, to Kuroko's instant reply.

"Last night was so awkward."

"Right!?"

* * *

6 Days Later

January 1st

16 Months Post-Treefall Disaster

* * *

The tension in the air was so unbelievably thick that it was making even Frenda tense. Saten sat across from Misaki at the table, keeping a straight back and formal posture, her expression neutral and unyielding as she stared the Level 5 down.

She had expected Saten to make some kind kind of argument with Misaki to convince her. That was how she thought this was going to go down, and Frenda had prepped herself to back that play as best she could. But no, no, Saten decided to do this in a way that had outright caused Frenda to borderline have a heart attack. Her tactic?

"I reviewed the old documents we found a while back, did some snooping. I'm going after Indigo's stuff, with or without your blessing. Your help would probably make it easier, so I'd like to work with you, but it's cool if you'd rather not."

That had been fucking ten silent minutes ago. Frenda was doing her absolutely best to remain cool, calm, collected, and honestly uncaring in appearance. However, the truth was, was that she was fucking terrified. This monster she was sitting across from could turn her and Ruiko into her fucking brain-wiped toy dolls if she wanted, and it was taking a lot of control to not flip the table into Misaki's face. Maybe Frenda could knock her out in one hit?

"And why, exactly, should I entertain the notion of putting you in danger?" Misaki finally asked, breaking the tense silence that had permeated the living room, Frenda jumping slightly.

"I'm not asking you to, I'm doing that myself, that's not your choice, that's mine." Ruiko answered immediately, with a very stern and stubborn tone of voice as she maintained her eye contact with Misaki. As Frenda watched Misaki's eyes harden, she once again contemplated whether or not she could knock out Misaki in one table flip to the face.

Misaki has poise, Frenda could give her that, but the look in her eyes belied the intense anger Frenda could feel radiating off of her. She maintained her calm composure, but Frenda could tell that Misaki was not used to someone so blatantly challenging her like this. Mikoto did it all the time, but never in a fashion that was anything but in a manner that Misaki didn't feel like she was the one in control.

At least, that's how Frenda saw it.

Eventually, Ruiko sighed, shrugging a little, before standing up, which surprised both Frenda and Misaki.

"Well, you have my number. I've said what I wanted. Comin'?" She looked at Frenda, who stood up quickly, more than happy to get the fuck out of this situation. As the pair turned and moved to stride out of the room, a loud sigh escaped from Misaki's lips behind them.

"You are… unbelievable." Misaki muttered, rubbing her temple with a delicately gloved hand. An electronic beep caught both Ruiko and Frenda's attention, both spinning around quickly in response to the tell-tale sign of her powers being activated. Neither had much time to really react however.

Both expected to get some form of mind control, or memory alteration, or something to alter their own desires to match Misaki's, but that is not remotely what they got. Instead both put hands to their heads as a surge of information was suddenly dumped into their brains instantaneously, which felt kind of like someone suddenly shoved way too much food into their overstuffed mouths.

"Wha- I- buh-" was the sound that came out of both their mouths as they started to process everything, Misaki leaning her chin into one hand, the other holding a remote, her expression having returned back to the calm, composed, in-control demeanor that she so often wore.

"Really now, you two. Must you make my life more difficult? There, now you know everything about my next little project I was looking to get done. I was about to get some of my agents together to get it done, but now, you two can try and get it done. This method saves me the breath of having to explain it all." She said, smiling with a degree of playfulness.

After the pair managed to ease their migraines, Ruiko was the first to speak up, smiling a playful grin to Misaki as she rubbed the side of her head. She felt like she'd won a small victory.

"T-thanks for actually helping." Ruiko smiled to Misaki with a growing grin, Misaki shrugging nonchalantly. "We'll go check that place out and-"

"Why."

Frenda cut into the conversation, her voice dark and most unhappy. Ruiko looked to Frenda, who looked extremely… displeased. With a hint of fear in her eyes. Misaki looked at her, tilting her head.

"Why would you send me back there?" Ruiko stared at that frightened look in Frenda's eyes, and part of her was unsure of what to say, or what to ask.

Misaki's response was as innocent as it was unconvincing.

"I've no idea what you mean."

* * *

16 Months and this place was still a husk of wreck. Frenda and Ruiko had made their way across the city, Ruiko mercifully not pestering Frenda with any questions, which Frenda was infinitely thankful for. She just was not in the mindset to answer any right now. She had wanted to scream when she looked in the mirror and realized that her outfit was practically the exact same one she was wearing that night, purely by accident.

Frenda glanced at Ruiko, who'd dressed as practically as she could without asking Frenda for help. Cargo pants, sneakers, a compression shirt underneath a hoodie and scarf. She looked cute, Frenda had to admit, but it was hard to focus on that when her mind wandered back to what they were standing in front of.

S-Processor Pathology Analysis Research Laboratory. What was left of it, at least. Why was this place fucking relevant? Why was Frenda freaking out?

BECAUSE THIS WAS WHERE SHE ALMOST KILLED RAILGUN.

And where Railgun fucking exploded and blew out the building. It was a goddamn miracle of Academy City engineering that the entire thing hadn't collapsed. There was still that damn crater at ground-level where she almost vaporized Mugino, and DID vaporize, like, fifteen floors of the building. The whole thing somehow was still standing from truly impressive support beams that had survived her onslaught.

Fuck you, Misaki. Fuck you.

"Sooo… Misaki said that there was a bunch of sub-levels to this place that were supposedly still intact that she wants us to get into, right?" Ruiko asked, pulling Frenda from her freaked-out thoughts.

"Right." Frenda said shortly, looking around quickly. The sun was almost down. This place had been abandoned when the company had gone belly up during Treefall, and everyone part of the company had gotten scapegoated by the Board. Now it was just another artifact of the project.

"Well!" Ruiko hefted up her big duffel bag. "Let's do this!" And with that and not an ounce of fear she ran off into the wreckage, Frenda watching her go for a moment, her jaw hanging open slightly, before chasing after her.

"Oh my god, what am I, your fucking chaperone? Watch your step! This place is a fucking deathtrap!"

After pulling on Ruiko's hood and getting her to slow down, the pair slowly began to investigate the wreck of the building. It didn't take long before they were doing so in the dark, relying on flashlights to look around, carefully trying to avoid getting spotted by wandering Anti-Skill eyes.

Ruiko watched as Frenda near-silently searched, her expression severe. She wanted to know what was bothering her, but didn't want to strike up a conversation out in the open like this. Another thing that caught her attention though as she searched… was the massive burn marks that covered the building. Initially, she thought that maybe the building had been damaged by Treefall, she didn't always keep up to date on current events before, but this did not look like something that happened by debris falling from space.

It looked like a giant bomb had blasted open the building right near where the lobby was. Not quite at the lobby, but pretty close. And the burn marks… the burn marks were scalded all over the metal wreckage.

"Hey, Ruiko!" Frenda called out to her, pulling her away from a burnt girder she was looking at. As she moved over to Frenda, Frenda had pulled up a piece of metal plating that had fallen over, revealing a hole in looked to be a ceiling of a hallway. Pointing their flashlights downward showed that it looked like exactly what they wanted.

"Down we go?" Ruiko asked, smiling to Frenda, who returned the smile, though it seemed like it was a struggle to push onto her face.

"Right." Frenda agreed quietly.

* * *

Sliding down a nylon rope that Ruiko had prepared in that duffel bag of hers, the pair plopped down into that dark hallway, flashlights illuminating it.

"Spooky." Ruiko muttered before she began walking in a direction. "OK, so, Misaki's brain blast of migraine inducing information dump said that there should be a computer system intact somewhere down here. We just need to get power to it somehow, or get it out of the building without damaging it. Right?" She looked to Frenda for confirmation, who had begun walking next to her, the blonde nodding.

"Right." She said simply. Curt and to the point. Oh for fucks sake.

"Frenda, what's wrong? You've been acting… really off. And I'm not gonna lie, the one word 'Right' replies, are getting really old."

Frenda didn't reply immediately as they walked, sighing loudly, pausing as they got to an intersection, flashlights illuminating down the two different paths before them.

"Look, I just… I've been here before, I was here when this place blew the fuck up. It wasn't a fun time, and I…" Frenda trailed off, her brow furrowing for a moment as her mind returned to that night. "I… just don't really like reflecting on…" she trailed off as her mind wandered once again.

That night… when she was fighting Railgun. She had bluffed out the girl, but what had stopped it all? What had fucked it all up? The security cameras… The cameras had suddenly turned on.

Someone had been watching them.

"Frenda?" Ruiko poked her shoulder lightly. Frenda had spaced out again, and it was starting to concern her more and more.

"Ruiko, I… Let's just get this done, OK? This isn't the place to talk about this." Frenda asked, looking up at her, her tone containing a slight hint of begging. Ruiko frowned down at her, concern evident in her face before she nodded slightly.

"Alright…"

And without another word, the two continued down another corridor.

* * *

As the pair moved through the halls, which rather quickly became far more difficult, requiring more of that training Frenda had put Ruiko through, it was clear that this place was indeed a bit of a disaster.

It was also clear why Misaki thought it might contain some sort of clue. If Indigo had been storing anything here, it wasn't inconceivable that he hadn't come back to this place to double check.

"Do you think that freak was involved with this plac-" Ruiko began to ask as she ducked under a piece of fallen ceiling, Frenda responding a bit too quickly.

"Yes." It was instant, and Frenda winced as she realized that her rapid reply was suspicious. Frenda took Ruiko's hand as she helped her up from under the metal wreckage. "I think I might have had a run-in with Indigo before, indirectly… I'm not super confident tho-" She trailed off, and a sad look spread into her face. Funny how a single word like "super", as childish as that word was, could make you feel so sad.

Saiai… ITEM… Memories of their missions haunted her every day now. Every new mission was another day of increasing brutality. Saiai talked to her less and less. Rikou was forced to rest more and more as her health took an increasing downturn.

"I'm just not sure." Frenda said, shrugging in an attempt to be uncaring. Ruiko continued to give her a doubtful look, though Frenda did not see it, having already resumed walking. Ruiko paused as her flashlight turned and lingered for a moment on a small vent hidden just a ways off from where she was standing in the rather expansive, if cluttered by debris, hallway.

"Hey Frenda…" Ruiko called out to her, approaching the vent, placing the large flashlight down on the ground through the vent as she got down onto her belly, crawling into the tunnel entrance. If Misaki's brain blast of ouch was correct, then somewhere around where they were right now, should probably be…

Ruiko poked her head through the vent, looking around, the flashlight illuminating the room a bit.

"What the hell are you doing?" Frenda's voice called out to her from the hallway, muffled a bit.

"Uh… I think I found a server room. Gimme a push, I think I can fit!" Ruiko could swear she could hear unkind grumbling somewhere around her rear before she felt a rough push forcing her through the vent entrance, shoving her through with a loud grunt as she landed roughly into the room. Ruiko groaned as she rubbed her butt, Frenda sighing as she crawled in after her, having a far easier time of it than Ruiko did.

"Huh… it really is a server room. Only required six hours of crawling through a dilapidated husk of a building to find it." Frenda grumbled as she stood up, dusting herself off.

Grabbing their flashlights, they resumed their search, both feeling the same thing- spookiness. Dust covered everything, and not a bit of power seemed to run through the place.

"So now what?" Frenda asked, frowning a bit, looking to Ruiko.

"Got my bag?" She responded with a big grin. Frenda raised up the duffel bag that she'd dragged through with her in response. Ruiko clapped her hands together, Frenda taking the call and tossing it to her. Ruiko pulled the bag open and removed a boxy looking battery device with a big grin.

"Do you even know how to use that?" Frenda asked, raising an eyebrow, a hint of a smile on her lips. Ruiko didn't answer, just grinned more as she pulled out some more cords and wires, starting to hook them up to a fusebox in a wall not far from where they were standing. Frenda didn't interrupt. Was Frenda a bombmaker with a near-genius understanding of chemistry, electronics, and an assortment of other fields? She certainly thought so.

Did she want to see if Ruiko electrocuted herself? Kinda.

"You Indian Pokered this, didn't you?" Frenda asked, realizing the secret behind Ruiko's random confidence. Ruiko paused and let out a slightly nervous laugh.

"Uhhh, I have no idea what you're talking about…" Ruiko said oh-so-innocently, before sparks and cracks of electricity sparked from the fusebox, powers starting to run from the high-tech battery she'd brought with them and through the power lines. A computer terminal turned on, along with a server tower.

"Gods bless Academy City's tech." Frenda said to herself, Ruiko standing up, pausing and giving Frenda a bit of an odd look for a moment before seeming to just shrug and going over to the computer.

"So, Misaki said we just need to plug this thing into the computer, and it'll download everything. Uiharu Special." Ruiko lifted up a hard-drive shaped device with a cable attached to it, capped with a plug.

"Well, plug it in." Frenda gestured, Ruiko doing just that, placing the hard-drive down and plugging the thing right in. Within seconds, the computer screen lit up, blowing past any security measures still in place and hitting a desktop, windows opening as files began to get uploaded onto the device.

The pair stared at the computer for a moment before their curiosity got the better of them, leaning forward.

"I wonder… what is on here…" Ruiko muttered, Frenda nodding in agreement.

"Couldn't hurt to look, right?" Frenda said, giving an honest grin, finally. She opened up a random file, her curiosity getting the better of her. Instant regret hit her as a video screen opened and the man on screen began to speak.

"Journal 34. Entry 76. Dr. Indigo."

* * *

Ruiko and Frenda stared at the screen as the journal entry began to unfold, the first several minutes featuring a man whose face expression could be likened to a snake rattled off various scientific experimental results that they didn't understand in a somewhat monotone voice. The man in dress clothes and vest threw his tablet down onto his desk in the video before looking to the camera again. The girls both glanced at the timestamp. It was dated over two years ago.

"Level 6 Shift Project is proceeding as planned. Experiments will be beginning relatively soon. We'll approach Accelerator to join the Project in 8 months, 2 weeks, 4 days, 3 hours." The man on the screen checked his watch as he rattled off the time with seeming unerring precision and confidence. "He will accept. Accelerator is likely the easier part of this equation, I put in a profound amount of effort in ensuring that nothing would stop him from joining the project."

The man's tone was almost rambling and bored as he spoke, speaking more for posterity than anything, even as he spoke of one of the most horrific human experiments that was to happen. Frenda and Ruiko stared in horror, unable to tear their eyes away. Neither had met this man in person, and something was chilling about putting a face to the bogeyman that they'd heard about. Ruiko had only mentioned this Indigo person to Frenda a few times, passing along what she'd learned from Misaki, and Misaki's brain-information-dump had certainly filled in a lot of blanks Ruiko had left.

"The neurotoxin has proven annoying, but I think that copper might be the solution. I'll have to take the time to run some mental cycles on it." He hummed in thought, tapping his head idly.

"If all goes to plan, I should have some excellent data in a couple years time, as well as the One and Three dead. If I'm even luckier, Gensei will have a heart attack and he'll stop annoying the piss out of me." Indigo grew a remorseless smirk across his face, picking up a knife off his desk, toying with it.

"And the sky will burn…" He chuckled, before reaching over and tapping a key off screen, ending the journal.

The two girls stared at the screen silently for a few minutes before turning to look at each other, their eyes wide. Ruiko opened her mouth to say something, but a noise interrupted her thoughts. A noise that chilled her to her bones.

Metal scraping against metal.

* * *

Frenda was the first to slide out of the vent, her head on a swivel as she looked around the hall, pulling the duffel bag out as Ruiko slid it out before her, then grabbing at the taller girl and pulling hard to get her out.

"Something is coming this way, I can hear it. We must have tripped something with that computer." Frenda hissed, pulling Ruiko up. "Let's go."

The pair began to run down the hall, Ruiko throwing the duffel bag over her shoulder, the hard-drive tucked firmly into the bag as they decided that leaving was rather wise.

Even as they ran however, they heard the same sound. Metal against metal. They moved as quickly as they could through ruined corridors, looking for a way out, but it was quickly growing more difficult, and they were growing more paranoid about using their flashlights to give away their position.

Frenda skirted to a stop suddenly, Ruiko nearly crashing into her.

"W-whoa!" Ruiko peeked around her to see why she had stopped, and saw it was because of a sheer drop deep into a far lower level into the facility. Likely a very fatal drop. The only way across looked to be some piping, the walkway having collapsed already.

"Great, now wha-" Frenda did not get to finish that thought before Ruiko simply picked her up off her feet bridal style, leaping up and landing on the piping, walking across with a level of balance that made Frenda nearly screaming in pure terror. Hey, that Indian Poker card for balance she'd used for the Holidays was paying off.

Alas, she only made it about half-way before the mysterious sound finally revealed its origins. Metal wreckage that they had crawled under to get to where they were burst forth, sending shrapnel flying into the void they were so earnestly trying to not fall into, revealing the metal monster that had been sent down to find the intruders.

Frenda peeked over Ruiko's shoulder at the six-legged massive machine, and as her eyes fell on the dual-barreled rotary turret on its back, her eyes went as wide as saucers.

"FASTER. NOW."

Ruiko heard the terror in Frenda's voice, and did not wait, bursting into a run on the pipes, doing her best to avoid slipping, stumbling a couple times and quite nearly falling to their deaths, and as she saw their exit- another hallway where the walkway that had collapsed originally led to, she found out why Frenda was terrified.

In the form of a grenade flying past her head and into some piping a ways off from her, blasting it apart.

"WHAT THE FUCKING SHIT!?" And with that Ruiko leaped from where she was into the exit, crashing onto the ground and scrambling onto her feet, pulling Frenda up with her, who was also scrambling, as more grenades were fired by the giant metal six-legged machine, blasting apart the hallway they were in and narrowly avoiding blowing them to bits.

The pair sprinted for dear life until the monster machine was a fading noise of mechanical growling.

* * *

Quickly scaling a rope, taking said rope with them, bolting out of the property and getting onto a late night train and collapsing into seats, both of them were so jittery that they kept having to stand up, the adrenaline pumping.

"What… was that thing?" Ruiko asked, laughing, her nerves so out of whack, it was all she could do. "Wait… No, no… this is familiar… I think Kuroko was attacked by a robot just like that one way back before Treefall." Ruiko muttered as she paced up and down the nearly-empty train cart. Thankfully, just the two of them.

"She got attacked by an automated six-legged walker drone armed with a twin-barrel rotary grenade launcher? What the fuck kind of money does this Indigo dickhead have? Those things cost millions upon millions of cash!" Frenda threw out, standing up herself, just as jittery as Ruiko. "That asshole just had one of those things sitting there in case someone bothered to go in there to recover material." Frenda said incredulously, shaking her head.

The pair paced the train in contemplation, far too wired to sit still. After quite some time in silence, Frenda finally broke out.

"So… your first excursion into poking at the underside of Academy City and all its depraved bullshit." Frenda said, turning to look at Ruiko, who looked back at her.

"Yup." Ruiko nodded slightly a few times, sighing, a tiny grin of exasperation on her face.

"And?" Frenda asked, raising an eyebrow. Frenda was genuinely curious if this was the end. Girl nearly had her head blown off by a grenade.

"And I think we should get this hard-drive to Misaki, get some sleep, and think about our next move." Ruiko replied, leaning against a support railing tiredly, smiling weakly at Frenda, who blinked in surprise. "What? You thought I was done?"

Frenda opened and closed her mouth a few times before finally replying. "Well… kind of." Frenda admitted, shrugging, glancing away. In a flash, Ruiko had crossed the distance between them and hugged her tightly.

"Not by a long shot. I've still got you after all." She said, pressing her cheek into the top of Frenda's head, towering over the shorter girl by over half a foot at this point. Frenda tensed for a moment before leaning into the hug.

"...Well, I guess I'll have to be there to bail you out, huh?" Frenda teased, hugging her back.

"I guess so." Ruiko agreed, grinning.

They held each other in the train car for the rest of the ride back, letting the tension of their little foray slowly bleed away, even as Frenda let dark thoughts circulate in her mind. Every moment like this tainted by the dark cloud of doubt and self-loathing that followed her everywhere she went.

She couldn't help but hold Ruiko just a little bit tighter, even if she felt like she didn't deserve to hold her at all.


	26. Chapter 26 - Strength, Reversed

Sorry for the unexpected hiatus! Medical stuff prevented me from updating, but hopefully, I can continue to improve on that situation, and deliver more regular updates to you all.

* * *

"Misaki-sama… please go to sleep."

This request broke Misaki out of her staring contest with her phone, snapping her eyes up at her lover who was currently sitting at a computer desk, turned away from the monitor and giving the telepath an extremely concerned look. Misaki's eyes flicked up at the clock to check the time. Closing in on midnight.

"It's not that late-" She began to say, but Kazari was having none of it. Both of them had left the manor house and gone to one of Misaki's private offices, where she had more computer equipment for Kazari to use, to do some more work with more privacy- researching and investigating the snake-faced conniver they knew was up to his vile plots. Admittedly, Misaki had spent a decent amount of time wondering how the little mission of Saten and Frenda's was going. It should be fine. That place was abandoned.

"It is late, and I know when you haven't been sleeping. I know when you go to bed with me and then sneak out of bed to work more. I want to find out what… he… is up to as much as you do, but you can't keep using your powers to keep yourself awake for days at a time. I know him being silently coiled up in his den this long is unsettling, but please… get some sleep." Kazari asked softly from her computer chair, her hands in her lap, fidgeting as she looked down, breaking eye contact.

"I'm just fi-!"She paused, biting her tongue and stopping herself as Kazari flinched. Misaki frowned more deeply, realizing that as Kazari spoke, her own expression was getting more and more severe and irritated with her lover, especially when Kazari had interrupted her. Kazari continued to fidget and avoided looking at Misaki, which was what she always did whenever Misaki got angry. An anxiety driven habit that always made Misaki feel terrible. Now she'd snapped at her because she was sleep deprived and irritable.

"...Alright." Misaki said quietly, standing from the couch she was sitting on, feeling a lump of guilt in her stomach like a stone. She hated fighting with Kazari, and she knew she was being bitchy because she hadn't been sleeping. She walked over to her lover and gave her a soft kiss on top of the head, leaning into her and pressing their heads together. "Sorry…" Kazari leaned back into her, but didn't say anything.

It hurt, honestly. But it was something that she knew Kazari had learned, that Misaki had helped her learn. 'It's OK' was something many people would say in response to an apology like Misaki had just given. Kazari didn't say that, because… it wasn't. Which stung. But she deserved that, a bit. She should know better than to snap at Kazari for just caring about her well-being.

Misaki sighed quietly, pulling back after giving Kazari another kiss on the head, moving away as she grabbed a blanket and pillow out of a corner and moved back to the couch, lying down on it, grabbing the remote she'd used to suspend her ability to sleep and clicking it, feeling the weight of withheld sleep almost immediately start crashing down on her.

"Love you, Haru-chan…" Misaki said weakly, her eyelids fluttering shut.

"Love you too." Were the last words she heard before sleep took her.

* * *

"You see, Rubber Ducky, this code is supposed to… to… UGH!" Uiharu put down her trusty Rubber Ducky onto the desk, pushing away from it and leaning back, staring up at the ceiling. Even explaining her code to the Ducky was not helping her figure it out right now. She was just too upset.

Uiharu turned her head to look at Misaki, who was now sleeping quietly, only making the slightest of sounds with every slumbering breath. She looked so peaceful, but Uiharu's stomach was twisted into knots. It wasn't the first time she and Misaki had fought, and hardly the worst fight, but that didn't make it easier. Misaki wasn't free of a temper, no one was, but she had excellent control of it. It was just… days on end without sleep left her temperamental. Uiharu knew that.

Still didn't stop her from being upset at Misaki for snapping at her or biting her head off. Even after all this time she was still… really jumpy.

Uiharu sighed and stood up from her chair, rubbing her face and walking over to the couch, crawling over the back of it and nestling herself between the backrest and Misaki, pulling the blanket over her and closing her eyes. Maybe some sleep was in order for herself, too.

"Good night…" She said quietly to the sleeping mind reader next to her, who continued to slumber undisturbed as she too drifted off.

* * *

12 Months Earlier

* * *

Misaki sighed and rubbed her temple as she listened to her various agents give reports. She was seated in a comfortable cushioned chair in one of the numerous offices she owned across Academy City. Treefall was still fresh, the damage still catastrophic, and she was still restructuring her support network to figure out what she needed to rebuild.

And that snake-faced monster was still missing.

She sighed once more as she opened her eyes once more, looking up from her lap, in which lay a piece of paper on which was printed a recently taken photograph of an old man with a large liver spot on his head who had not had the decency of dying in the disaster.

"...In short, we lost track of him not long after the photograph was taken, and it is likely he has gone to ground." The man finished, looking up from the tablet he was reading his notes from, looking at the teenage mind reader that served as his employer. Despite the fact that every person in this room dwarfed her in age and size, none of them had any illusion that the Queen was anything less than what she was- a terrifying psychic titan that they respected and feared in equal measure.

"I see." Misaki replied dryly, sighing as she put the photograph down on the desk not far from. Her mind began to wander in thought but was quickly pulled from it by a vibration in her pocket. Fishing her phone out, she flicked the holographic screen open with her thumb with a smooth, well-practiced motion, looking at who messaged her. Her eyes lit up for a moment.

"That will be all for today." Misaki said, abruptly, a few of those present, most of them newer employees, giving surprised looks, but the rest simply stepping away. Misaki rose from her cushy throne and left the office, her new part driver, part investigator Keitz Nokleben following behind her like a shadow.

"There was one other matter that I feel you should be informed of…" The man said as he strode down the stairs.

"Did I not say we were done for today?" She said with a slightly sharp tone. She was a bit eager to respond to the individual who'd texted her.

"Oh dear." He remarked humorously at her sharp tone. "It's regarding the activities of the Number One and his new tiny protege." He replied in a lazy tone that matched the expression he so often wore.

"...Proceed."

* * *

Misaki sat in the backseat of the luxury car as Nokleben drove, her eyes gazing out the window as she digested the new information regarding that white-haired lunatic. She should have known better. She needed to keep a closer eye on his behavior. She'd deal with it later.

"Coffins… Yet another problem the underworld has vomited out for me to deal with." She sighed.

Her eyes went back to her phone, at the somewhat ominous text she'd gotten from her contact labeled "Haru-Chan". Simple words.

"Hey- I need to talk to you. It's really important."

Misaki frowned at it. It was rather serious in tone, something that she didn't get too often these days from her. She began to text back, intending to arrange something with Uiharu, when suddenly Nokleben shifted directions on the road, taking an unexplained exit.

"What are you doing? This is not where I told you to go. I need to get within range of a certain individual." Misaki looked up, glaring into the rearview mirror. Nokleben glanced up at her eyes, his calm gaze unbroken.

"Apologies, but I was just alerted to something, and I think you'll agree it takes precedence, I didn't want to miss the exit." He said in a lazy drawl as he continued on unimpeded. Misaki clenched her jaw. Nokleben had two things that made her grudgingly tolerate the rampant back-talk and sass that he often gave her: skill and competence. Enough for her to listen first instead of just using her powers on him.

"And what could that possibly be?" She demanded, still glaring into the mirror.

He passed her a small tablet over his shoulder to her, which she took and examined. Her eyes widened as she did.

"Someone breached several highly secure databases, including our own. They're accessing massive amounts of highly sensitive data. The topics are interesting… The Level Six Shift Project, reports on Treefall, and…" Misaki didn't let him finish, cutting in herself with a level of alarm and coldness in her voice.

"The Sisters."

* * *

It wasn't long before Misaki was in yet another cold facility, Nokleben coordinating with cybersecurity employees to backtrack who had just started to massively harvest a truly colossal amount of data on some of the most sensitive topics Misaki was safeguarding. Misaki had on a fur coat just to keep away the chill, and was currently texting Uiharu back, who was none too pleased with her.

"I'm sorry, something crucial is pressing my attention. I'll let you know as soon as I am free, OK?"

Misaki had sent that the better part of an hour ago, and Uiharu had still not responded to her. Uiharu always did that when she was exceptionally upset- ghosted. It was a bit immature, and Misaki wanted to call her on it, but this was hardly the time.

Putting the phone away and looking back to the task at hand, she needed to focus more on this. She'd spent far too much time covering the tracks of the Sisters from that psychopathic snake to risk this information getting into the wrong hands.

"Whoever this is must have some kind of death wish, they're getting real close to brushing right into the Board's personal business. They pulled a direct original copy of The Level Six Shift Project straight from the Bank by force." Nokleben observed as he watched a giant display monitor at the back of the room display relevant information fly across the screen.

"Seriously?" Misaki said in disbelief. "Is that… even possible? Is it an Electromaster? I'd suspect Misaka Mikoto, but she's still in a coma, and I'm not aware of any other Espers-"

"No. No powers were utilized as far as we can tell." Nokleben cut off the speculation, and Misaki could only stare up at the tall man with further disbelief. Who could possibly have the skill to hack into the Academy City's Bank, the most secure computer network on the entire planet, the most advanced and-

"We backtracked the traces from our network and managed to find some remnants of her. She wasn't as careful with us as she was in the Bank. She had a student profile attached to a nearby wireless phone she was texting off of to someone that I managed to get an identity from." One employee said, tossing the student ID onto the screen.

Misaki stared up at the screen and felt the color drain from her face as a chill ran down her spine, a wave of nausea washing over her as she stared into the face of the hacker who had broken into the Bank, private labs and corporations, and Misaki's own secure networks and stolen countless files of highly classified data.

At the face of Uiharu Kazari.

* * *

Misaki groaned as she woke up from her slumber, her eyes fluttering open. It took her a moment to get her bearings, remember where it was she fell asleep. A slight shift next to her caused her to glance to the side, spotting a still sleeping Kazari snuggled between her and the back of the couch. Smiling a little, she gently slid from the couch, sneaking over to the window, swiping her phone off the table as she strode.

That dream… That happened so long ago, it was like a distant memory. But… it wasn't so long ago, was it? Just a year. A year ago, when her well-intentioned attempts to help Kazari had accidentally set her on a warpath that nearly got her killed.

Her precious Kazari may be jumpy at physical confrontation and arguments… but the digital was her demesne and if she had a mind, why, she could burn down the world.

"My precious, beautiful Haru-chan." Misaki said in a whisper as she turned and looked at the lump under the blanket that still slept soundly. Checking her texts, she saw what she was looking for. Status report from Saten.

"Not dead! Got the thing. Also robot."

Misaki fixed the text with a long stare as she parsed that short, very vague message.

"Robot?" She texted back. There was a pause, before she got a text, not from Saten, but from Frenda.

"I'll fill in here; Ruiko is asleep, she sent that text a few hours ago. we were attacked by an autonomous six-legged walker-drone with a rotary grenade turret that weighed in probably of the ballpark of 10-15 tonnes? Hard to say for sure. We survived. No injuries."

Misaki stared at the text, her eyes having gone wide in alarm.

"That… but that place was supposed to be empty-" Misaki choked on her words, looking back at Kazari again. Still asleep. Her phone buzzed again. She looked back at it, reading the next text from Frenda.

"Don't bother trying to convince Ruiko to quit. I've already tried and failed, and unlike you, I'm fucking her." Misaki paused in her reading to sneer a bit. Frenda was so unspeakably vulgar sometimes. She continued reading. "She's dead set on this. So don't waste time on trying to convince her to stop, try to figure out how the hell this Indigo freak has access to a drone that costs millions and can spare one to just leave as a guard dog. Give us another lead, and we'll chase after it."

Frenda was much braver over text than in person with her- she knew Frenda was terrified of her. Suppose it was easier to be brave when you weren't face to face.

But thoughts like those were the least of her concern… right now, her thoughts were plagued with the doubts she could never let anyone see.

She looked out the window again, clenching her jaw.

"...What is my next move?"


	27. Chapter 27 - The Magician, Reversed

A/N: Special thanks to Khan, my editor, for greatly helping in expanding this chapter and cleaning it up.

* * *

Kuroko quietly crept into the room she shared with Mikoto with mischievous intent, though that idea was quickly discarded once she spotted her lover. The sounds of Mikoto at work filled the room, and her intense focus would make any teasing far too easy. Clicks and scrapes echoed through the room as Mikoto seemed to fiddle with something in her hands, using various tools in turn to remove or add parts from piles of metal pieces spread across the desk in front of her. In the midst of the chaotic arrangement lay her crutch.

Mikoto's head jerked up as Kuroko seemed to cross some kind of invisible line, her intense focus broken as she set her screwdriver down, turning in her chair to face her girlfriend and meet her curious expression.

"Hey. What are you working on?" she asked, partly out of genuine interest, and partly to maintain the pretense that she wasn't about to do exactly what she had originally come to do.

"Huh? Oh. It's…" She turned back to the device. It was about a foot long and roughly cylindrical, but enough parts were missing that Kuroko couldn't really make out what it was supposed to be yet.

"A possible solution to my balance problems." She smiled, putting her tools down. "...And a portable toolbox, of sorts." She pushed herself off the table, grabbing her crutch. Kuroko glanced at it, and she noted little markings along the crutch's length at various points, prompting another raised eyebrow.

"You'll see. I was thinking of running… hobbling… strolling! Right, strolling down to the store for some more parts. Wanna come?"

The flash of unhappiness in Mikoto's eyes as she struggled through that phrasing showed her jaunty smirk for a lie, and it wounded Kuroko's heart. Kuroko could understand the pain of growing used to a disability, and Mikoto had previously been an incredibly fit and athletic person. Now… she struggled a great deal to get around. Still, Mikoto had been there for her through the loss of her arms.

Kuroko took the chance to snatch Mikoto's hand with a big grin on her face.

"Did you even need to ask?"

* * *

The high tech hardware shop that Mikoto favored had an abundance of both metal bits as well as electronic bobs, and the Electromaster herself seemed like a kid in a candy store. Kuroko followed along at her heels as she went up and down the aisles, and it didn't take long for Kuroko to figure out that Mikoto wasn't just shopping, she was browsing intensely. Oh, was she easily distracted in this treasure trove!

"Electromasters and their toys…" Kuroko muttered quietly as she watched Mikoto wander with a smile on her face, some electronic devices periodically coming to life on their own, most likely due to Mikoto's own excited electromagnetic field.

"I heard that, you know." Mikoto said, huffing a bit as she seemed to deflate a little, looking through a selection of some devices that Kuroko didn't recognize. She gave Mikoto a soft smile.

"Don't mind me. I don't really understand your particular fixation, but… I get it. I have… had similar experiences, so I am not really one to judge your unladylike hobbies. It led me to joining Judgement, actually." Kuroko said with a reassuring tilt of the head, her smile unwavering. Mikoto looked at her with a very curious expression.

"Really?" she asked, and for a moment, there was a strange look crossing Mikoto's face. "You know… I kind of just realized… even though we're d...dating… I don't really know much about your past. Like, before we met, I mean. I never… really asked." As Kuroko watched Mikoto's expression, she realized Mikoto was feeling a bit ashamed over that fact.

"Well, I'm a very forgiving type, so you could always ask me whenever you wish." Kuroko said in a very fake-haughty tone as she gave Mikoto a very large smile, before getting on to her tiptoes to peck her cheek, "Don't worry about it."

Mikoto blushed, still prone to embarrassment at public displays of affection, but returned the smile. A few moments of silence stretched on as Mikoto returned to browsing, Kuroko watching her with the same curiosity as before, seeing the thoughtful expression on her face.

Kuroko's mind returned to its curiosity for what they originally came here to do, Mikoto first examining various ball-bearings and gauging some intrinsic quality that couldn't have been mere weight, levitating them with her powers occasionally. Then she moved on to do similar with several fabrics and cushions, pressing them against her forearms, bicep, or neck and coming to conclusions that Kuroko could only make bewildered guesses about.

* * *

Better late than never, right? That was Mikoto's thought process, at least.

"So, Kuroko…" Mikoto broke the silence, and Kuroko's focus on her partner's shopping. "What was it that you meant, then? About having the same thing as me with my love of machines and electronics?"

Kuroko blinked as they returned back to the previous topic before smiling once again, seemingly in excitement. "Oh! Well, you know how people in the Power Curriculum Program tend to develop odd quirks and hobbies related to their personal realities? For Teleporters it usually manifests as a sort of preference for teleporting certain kinds of things." Kuroko turned and seemed to idly look at the various items on shelves as she reminisced, Mikoto still looking for the items she needed, but the bulk of her focus remaining with Kuroko.

"Materials. Or densities or weights or sometimes abstract shapes. One boy I read about had a serious issue with the topological genus of three: he literally had trouble keeping his shirt on. Rarely, it might be one's own self. But yes, there are things that just…" she trailed off for a couple seconds, struggling to describe the sensation. "It just feels right," she said, grinning widely.

"Huh, that's pretty interesting. What's your- wait, how did that lead you to becoming Judgement?" Mikoto interrupted her own train of thought as she noticed a slight leap of logic from Kuroko's earlier statement that didn't quite add up. She said that her preference for teleporting certain objects led to her becoming Judgement.

"Hm? Oh…" Kuroko shrugged a bit, not looking directly at Mikoto, smiling with some nostalgia. "I got arrested."

Mikoto froze mid-grab. There was a pregnant silence as she processed what she was almost positive she heard wrong. Once she was absolutely sure that, no, it wasn't an auditory hallucination, she turned her head to look at Kuroko with a very baffled and off-balance expression.

"Wait. I... what? You." Kuroko nodded slowly. "You, Shirai Kuroko, got arrested."

"Y-yeah... hahah, not my finest moment I assure you," she admitted sheepishly.

"Like, the same Kuroko that shows up to a crime scene gripping her armband with a super serious frown saying 'Judgment desu no!' before she brutally takes down any and all comers with ruthless efficiency."

"Mikotooooo," Kuroko whined, covering her face to hide the pained blush that mixed pride and embarrassment.

"You're telling me the infamous ace enforcer and thug destroyer of Branch 177...was arrested."

"Don't you think you're overreacting a bit, dear?" Kuroko responded primly.

"I'm sorry! It's just... wow, I never would have expected it from you of all people."

"I was ten!"

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry." Mikoto decided to reconcile before things escalated further. They were in public and it was just mean. She'd have plenty of time to ruminate on it later. Maybe she could even confer with her Sist- Nope, not ready to go there. Some other day. In the future. Yeah.

"Would milady do me the honour of relating the rest of the tale?"

Kuroko smacked her shoulder playfully and she managed to not wince at the- likely unintentional- force behind it. "Flatterer. Very well, then! I suppose I, in my magnanimity, can oblige!" She held the serious expression for only a second before giggling.

"I… well, it's really easy to steal things when you can just touch them and make them disappear. So I was young and stupid and starting to get quite good at my exercises, and, well… I stole things."

Mikoto stared at Kuroko as she listened to her, not uttering a word. She didn't really know what to say, who could have expected this from Kuroko of all people?

"As you might imagine my little stint as a master thief didn't last long. And by 'not long', I mean, maybe a few weeks before Judgement caught me? Needless to say, my penchant for stealing thankfully did not include anything of exceptional value, so after a truly vicious lecture the whole incident was expunged from my records on the condition that I served some community service with a Judgement member." Kuroko smiled a bit, rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet.

"Not a day after I ended that community service that I joined Judgement training. I learned that abusing my powers like that was wrong. That I had… an expectation of responsibility." Kuroko put down the random item she had been examining, moving over and leaning into Mikoto, and Mikoto reflexively wrapped an arm around her.

"I'm sorry, I know that's not the most flattering story of me."

Mikoto, at that moment, was shocked more than anything, but felt nothing but respect for Kuroko. Really, Mikoto went on a property destruction rampage without learning much of anything. Kuroko had a minor thieving stint as a child, and dedicated years of her life to Judgement.

"Kuroko, you're…" Mikoto smiled, resting the top of her head on Kuroko's. "You certainly learn faster than I do." She said, with envy in her voice. "You never cease to amaze."

* * *

They departed from the hi-tech hardware shop not long after with Kuroko more than happy to carry the bags.

In truth, she had to keep reminding herself she was carrying things. Heaven Canceller was a genius for certain- the procedure where they installed the prosthetic interface had reinforced her stumps (and the muscles therein) appropriately for the metal arms. And then the arms themselves… well, suffice to say, it was more strength than she was used to.

"Thanks, Kuroko." Mikoto smiled as she... strolled along, the shorter girl beaming up at her, meeting Mikoto's side-long look.

"Tut, tut, don't even think to trouble yourself, It's the least I could do after you listened to me spill my tragic backstory, my love." Kuroko grinned, her tone as teasing as it was deliberately over dramatic. "Even if it means being stalked by Anti-Skill…" she mumbled. Both gave a small half-chuckle, half-sigh. The sad truth was they knew they were under constant surveillance. It was just the reality of it.

"Yeah, well… What can you-" Mikoto began, but was interrupted by an exceptionally excited and foreign sounding voice.

"Oh, wow! What are the odds of meeting such famous people!"

Both Kuroko and Mikoto turned their eyes forward toward the individual who'd suddenly placed themselves in their path. He, and it did take them a second to mark him as a boy with his long blonde hair and pretty face, was quite clearly foreign, and dressed quite unusually: An eye-watering yellow shirt clashed with a rustic brown-red poncho, accompanied with a pair of brown pants, and yellow shoes that matched his shirt. A pair of wildly-patterned belts around his waist would normally be eye-catching were his flamboyant movements not so distracting.

"Mikoto and Kuroko, right?" He leaned in earnestly, "I recognize your faces from all the news reports! They aren't exactly quiet about their heroes." He began to speak through his heavily accented Japanese, his rather flagrant and rude usage of their first names catching both off guard. His entire mannerism caught them off guard in fact, but while Kuroko was about to tear the savage's head off, a squeeze at her arm stopped her. Mikoto looked momentarily thankful that Kuroko could feel through the metal prosthetic. Kuroko could see the look on Mikoto's face beyond that… what was bothering her?

"I know you two must get bothered so often, but I just couldn't help myself! I mean, for two so young, what motivates you to help so many?" He asked, stepping in closer and acting as though he was seeing a fascinating lab specimen. This was well past the point Mikoto would usually start puffing up and making threats at creeps like this, but she wasn't even moving. She was just silently staring him right in the eyes. And in response he was just… grinning cheekily? Why were they staring each other down?

"...You're a foreigner, aren't you?" Kuroko spoke up finally, breaking the building tension before it could get any worse, deciding to be diplomatic instead of what she wanted to be, which was vicious.

"Indeed I am, but a visitor. My name is Rym." Kuroko raised her eyebrow slightly. Well, that was certainly a foreign name. Wait… visitor?

"Visitor? When did you... arrive?" She asked cautiously, and it was at this point, she noted that Anti-Skill had yet to intervene as they so often did these days when they were approached in public, which was... moderately alarming.

"Oh… recently. I don't quite remember." Rym tapped his chin in a bit of thought, his blue eyes flicking to Mikoto's hazel yet again, the grin widening on his face.

Kuroko glanced to Mikoto and saw the intensity had not faded from her glare at all. What was bothering her so much? That, more than anything, was what concerned her. What could make Mikoto this tense?

* * *

Why was this person in front of her like a black hole of electromagnetic energy?

Her electromagnetic radar was still functioning perfectly fine; she could sense other people properly! But when it came to this blonde-haired boy, it was like it sunk into him and vanished, like it was devoured up into a hungry gullet. She'd suspect he was an Electromaster like her, but nothing else about him seemed to indicate that. He didn't give off the electromagnetic field that they all started to generate around Level of 2.

That didn't rule out him being Level 1. Which would be fine, of course; she didn't care about people because of their Level… but someone like this? Someone who could suck down electromagnetic energy like some kind of bottomless pit. That was an unknown. Possibly a very dangerous one, as she had discovered in the events leading up to Treefall.

AND HE KNEW HE WAS DOING IT.

"So?" She was broken out of her thoughts, finding herself staring into the eyes of the young man again, his bright baby blues boring into her. "How do you motivate yourselves? To such grand heroics?" He asked in a somewhat pushy manner. It was in that moment, as she snapped out of her focus, that she let herself feel out farther than their conversation. She glanced to Kuroko, and saw the worry on her face. The same thought.

Where was Anti-Skill? They would have intervened by now. And as she stretched her senses, her radar reached out, echoing across the landscape, into the nearby buildings and shops and alleys, she found a more pressing question to ask.

Where was everyone... and every living thing?

Mikoto's eyes refocused on the simpering blonde and saw the glimmer of amusement in his eyes for what it was, that he knew what effect he had on her senses, too, and enjoyed watching her squirm. It was then that she remembered what he'd said about his arrival. He'd only just arrived in Academy City recently? The city was still on lockdown, that was impossible. Unless... As the yawning emptiness of the lifeless world around them ate away at her dwindling resolve, she felt suddenly very, very vulnerable under the gaze of this... person?

"...I don't know. Do we need a reason or a motivation?" Mikoto asked in a low tone, her hand squeezing down on her crutch. She felt Kuroko glance up at her from the side, before her eyes flicked back to the person in front of them, who leaned back away, seeming to consider that answer.

"Hm… I suppose not. It's just so much less exciting…" He drawled out, his eyes moving to look at her again. "Unless you're lying, of course." He said, his eyes half-lidded, his pleasant expression becoming something more feral. He immediately took several steps backward as Kuroko began to step toward him raising up an an arm, still holding onto a bag full of parts, seeming ready to feed him a metal fist to the exceptionally rude young man.

"Whoa, whoa! Just kidding!" He laughed, raising his hands up in defense, backpedaling defensively, though paused in his laugh as his gaze looked up toward the skyline.

He glanced back down at them, tapping his chin again, tilting his head again at them. "It is strange though. You both seem like the crusading types. Driven, with certain sparks of… righteousness." He said this as he crossed his arms, seeming even more thoughtful.

"With powers like yours, do you not feel an obligation to-?" He began, pausing as his eyes darted up at the skyline once again, head twitching to the side as he frowned, a dark look flashing through his blue orbs.

"Hmm… times up. Guess I overstayed his tolerance…" Rym looked to the girls again, who looked confused at his random outburst. With a flourishing bow, he gave them another plastic smile.

"Sorry to trouble you so, but thank you for entertaining a visitor such as I. I hope we meet again." The blonde grinned, raising up from his bow and his eyes glancing up at the skyline once more.

Both Kuroko and Mikoto glanced over their shoulders to see what had spooked him so. ...The Windowless Building?

"What-" Kuroko began, but as they turned back, Rym was gone without a trace. Mikoto blinked in bewilderment… and gasped as she felt everything rush back. People and animals and a Sister and plants and the power grid were all suddenly there again, like the empty space in the shops and buildings was suddenly filled. How… how had-

...Had that man… Had Rym been manipulating her radar?

* * *

Kuroko felt angry - furious, in fact - at the bizarre foreigner that had so rudely interrupted her date with Mikoto, bombarded them with strange comments and questions, treated them so familiarly, and then just vanished.

"Honestly, who did he think-" Kuroko looked up, and for the first time since they'd woken up from their respective comas, she saw something nostalgic in Mikoto's face. It wasn't a self-loathing anger, or a depressed sulk.

It was an immature contained tantrum of Mikoto wanting to punch or electrocute someone who had made her angry but was in too public of a place to explode in lightning and glass the whole area. It was something so dearly familiar, yet Kuroko felt like she hadn't seen it in forever.

"You OK?" Kuroko asked, smiling a bit, unable to help it. It was just… so, so nostalgic. She felt far too young to be feeling nostalgic, but honestly? She was far too young to have dealt with a lot of things.

"Fine. Just fine. Just… going to… seethe…" she growled out, her hand squeezing down on her crutch tightly. Kuroko leaned over and into Mikoto, grinning even more.

"Well… just let me know when you're ready to go home. I think we can work out some stress…"

* * *

Kuroko laid down on their bed as Mikoto worked, face buried into the comforter, whining pitifully. This wasn't fair. Everything hurt.

"You have no one to blame but yourself. You know we've been needing to." Mikoto said from the desk as she worked.

"When I said 'work out stress', I didn't mean sparring…" Kuroko moaned as she looked up from the bed, giving Mikoto crocodile tears.

"I know."

"So cruel…"


	28. Chapter 28 - Temperance, Reversed

""Ow!"

"Move over!"

"You move over, you're bigger than me!"

This line of hushed whispering argument had been going on for the past couple of hours in the pitch black darkness of the suffocatingly claustrophobic box that Frenda and Ruiko currently found themselves in. Stage One of their genius plan.

"This was a dumb idea." Frenda hissed at Ruiko whom she was pressed up against at the moment.

"Your face is a dumb idea." Ruiko defensively shot back, huffing.

"Oh, such wit."

Finally, after what felt like eternity, the small enclosed space they were in stopped moving and shifting around, coming to a full stop with a heavy thud. Minutes passed as they waited in darkness, listening.

"I think the coast is clear." Ruiko hissed out, prompting Frenda to squirm around in her lap and start kicking at the roof of their tiny prison. All the shifting around and moving however, was suddenly rewarded with a sense of freefall that gave both a minor panic attack...

"OH SHI-"

"OH FUC-"

...before a heavy crash popped the box open and the pair spilled out.

And so, they were rewarded with light finally. Both were lying on the ground, Frenda on top of Ruiko, still halfway inside of the metal crate they had used to smuggle themselves in. A quick glance told them they were in a storage room, and their crate had been stacked on top of several other boxes, with all their squirming and kicking having knocked it off and onto the ground with a painful crash.

"Ow ow ow…" Ruiko hissed, sitting up and rubbing her lower back. "Not a word." she cut off Frenda's oncoming snark, Frenda snapping her mouth shut with a huff as she stood up, dusting herself off.

Grumpily, Ruiko stomped over to the marked second crate they'd used to stow their gear for the ride into the facility. Popping it open, she pulled out her duffel bag and began checking to make sure everything made the transit in working order.

Fishing out a pair of earpieces, sticking one in her ear and tossing the other to Frenda, who caught it and put it in her own ear. Both tapped the side of it to turn it on, and were rewarded with a loud screech.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW!?"

Both winced in pain as the familiar voice of Misaki shouted over the comms, sounding none too pleased.

"H-hey, Misaki-sama…" Ruiko started, earning her a growl from the other end.

"Don't 'sama' me and think that will spare you my irritation!" she responded sharply. "I told you two to wait until I found a safe way to get you into the facility, there were no active cameras inside for Haru-chan to hack to scout it out, but no, you had to-"

"As fun as this scolding is likely to be, we just made a racket in a storage room and really need to get a move on before we're made standing around." Frenda cut in, very disinterested in being lectured.

"Fine. Haru-Chan, please keep an eye on them. I give this twenty minutes at most before it goes completely off the rails." Misaki said on the other end of the comms, her voice getting more distant as she seemed to move away from the microphone.

"S-sure!" Was Uiharu's slightly flustered response over the comms.

"Right then." Ruiko forced a smile, laughing nervously. "Shall we?"

* * *

"So, Uiharu, you know how the data you spent that time going over from those last hard drives said this was an old facility for autonomous drone creation that we suspected that giant death machine came from? You know, the one that tried to kill us last time?" Ruiko asked, her back pressed up against some criss-crossed I-beams high up on a maintenance walkway.

"Yeah?" Uiharu asked, her tone both curious and confused.

"And you know how the records you dug up said that this facility was now used for storage for the city, and that Indigo abandoned it so it was just an empty husk now?" Frenda asked, also pressed up against the metal supports opposite of Ruiko.

"Y-yeah?" Uiharu asked, her tone growing more nervous.

"IT'S NOT." Both hissed, peeking back around the edges of their cover down to the depot floor below that was covered in rows and rows of walker-tanks, spider drones, and patrolling soldiers. Very well-armed soldiers.

"O-oh." Uiharu responded, a pause. "Oh, no… G-get out of there!"

"Yyyyeah, about that…" Ruiko drawled, laughing lightly, rubbing the back of her head. "We… don't know the way out. We came in a crate."

There was an awkward pause, before a distant annoyed voice on the comms could be heard saying "Nineteen minutes, thirty-seven seconds. Must you only meet my expectations when I don't want you to?"

"O-OK, new plan! Find a computer terminal attached to their main network and plug one of my long-range wireless connectors into it. I'll get you a way out, j-just don't get caught!"

"Right." Ruiko said, before looking over the edge of the walkway again. "...Easier said than done."

Crouching down low, the pair of intruders did their best to remain out of sight as they crossed the walkway over the factory floor, pushed a heavy metal door open when they got to the end, and slid into the hall just beyond it. Rows of pipes and cabling greeted them, showcasing the factory's guts as they moved away from sight.

"Ruiko." Frenda grabbed her partner's shoulder, prompting the much taller girl to turn around and look at her, blinking in surprise as Frenda proffered a handgun- an old M1911 that Frenda had picked specifically for Ruiko, but very much did not intend to give her today. A horde of mercenaries somewhat disrupted that plan.

"Wha-" Ruiko cut off upon seeing Frenda's intense expression.

"Ruiko. Those men down there? They will shoot you on sight. They will kill you without a moment's hesitation." Frenda pushed the pistol forward again, prompting Ruiko to nervously take it.

"But…" Ruiko blinked, looking up from the killing tool in her hand to Frenda.

"Just remember what I taught you. Focus on riding the adrenaline high, the rush it gives you. It's how I taught myself to get past the mental blocks of killing." Frenda said evenly, the cold topic visibly making Ruiko shift with discomfort. "If you don't kill them first, they will kill you."

Ruiko nodded gravely, checked the chamber and safety, and stuffed it in her waistband before turning and continuing down the hall.

Frenda stared at the back of her partner, her expression twisted into one of concern. With a shake of her head, she put her gameface back on, and followed.

* * *

Sneaking through the facility was perhaps best characterized as soul-grinding tension punctuated by the occasional horror show. They kept to the maintenance hallways, mercifully empty, but occasionally peeked down through the grated flooring or the odd vent grate.

"We must have passed half a dozen hangars already." Frenda said with a sort of shocked marvel. "He's got to have hundreds of those things. Where the fuck does he get the money for this?"

"And why does he need them? What is he planning? And who are these mercenaries?" Ruiko asked, looking at Frenda, before glancing back down the grated floor they were above, a few stories above the latest hanger.

"...That sight alone is providing me with answers. That kind of money, even dark money, can't be hidden forever. There aren't that many people who can throw that kind of wealth around and it always leaves a trail." Misaki's voice said over their comms. "Just focus on escaping."

The pair nodded as they continued along their way, pausing at an intersection.

"Straight, or to the left?" Frenda hummed in thought. Ruiko didn't respond right away, frowning as she seemed lost in thought. "Left probably goes deeper in to the facility… Might want to keep skirting the edges." She glanced at Ruiko questioningly when she didn't receive an immediate reply.

"Hey, Frenda… what if this place has all those things for more than just production?" She asked after Frenda stared at her for several seconds with a questioning look.

"What do you mean?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. She felt like she knew where this might be going.

"...What if this place is protecting something?"

Frenda looked into Ruiko's eyes, and it was returned with a mixture of worry and curiosity.

"...So left then?" Frenda asked, smirking.

"Left!"

* * *

The pair walked in relative silence, tuning out Misaki and Uiharu talking on the other end of their comms, to stay focused on not making too much noise. Frenda lead the way, seeming exceedingly on-edge. As they hit the end of the long hallway they'd been following, a solitary door waited. Frenda held up her hand and carefully approached it. Cracking it open, she peeked outside, froze, and very quietly closed it.

"Well, that is a lot of guns with likely-unfriendly people- Oh, who am I kidding, they'll skullfuck us with those before pulling the trigger." Frenda muttered as she crept backwards, looking to Ruiko who looked thoughtful.

"Was… was that mental image really necessary?" Ruiko asked, looking mildly disturbed.

"Yes."

Grumbling, Ruiko looked around the immediate area, her eyes eventually falling down on the floor, her eyes lighting up as she spotted something just a few meters back the way they had come.

"What about down there?" Ruiko pointed at one of the grates on the floor. Below them was a very dark room only illuminated by dim lights built into the floor outlining pathways. "It looks like that room's empty right now…" Ruiko noted.

Frenda hummed in thought, before looking pointedly at the door she'd been peeking out of a moment ago. "Not like we have a ton of other options." On that cheery note, both girls moved to grab at the grate, heaving to lift it up and slide it partially out of the way. It was certainly not light, but mercifully not welded in, likely for maintenance purposes.

Slipping out, they carefully lowered themselves onto a walkway not unlike one they'd walked across earlier. Pulling out flashlights, they looked around to see what was inside, nearly twenty feet above the floor. Their searching rewarded them with the sight of rows and rows of both autonomous walker drones and powered suits.

"I reiterate: what in the ever-loving fuck could he possibly need all this equipment for? There's no way the Board would sit on their asses if they knew about this." Frenda said with a mixture of awe and horror.

"Just one of the reasons we were planning to investigate this place." Misaki's voice chimed in over the comms. "Take pictures if you can do it safely. Everything might help." Misaki said, though there was the sound of a displeased Uiharu nearby- fretting honestly. "They'll be fine, if the room is empty. It's unlikely there would be security in a hanger that far into the facility."

Ruiko and Frenda nodded as they made their way down to the floor, finding a ladder attached to the walkway not too far away. Frenda pulled a pair of cameras from Ruiko's pack and they set about taking pictures of the giant death machines.

Frenda felt the spike of doubt and depression creeping into her mind as she got out of direct eyesight of Ruiko. It was suddenly like being back on one of her ITEM missions. And recently… anything regarding ITEM sparked seeds of doubt, self-hate, and-

"What the-?" Frenda's self-pitying thoughts came to a halt as she hit the end of the depot, spotting a half-hexagon tower that reached from the floor to the ceiling. A quick look told her it was likely an armor-reinforced storage container for... something. The small panels to the sides of each of them showed that they didn't want anyone accessing them without access codes, apparently. Her flashlight began to strafe along them, looking at words painted into the panels.

"Five_Over Modelcase… "Railgun"?" She muttered as she read one, her gaze moving to each. She noted… there was seven such containers. She continued to move along, reading each.

"Five_Over Modelcase_"Meltdowner"… Five_Over Modelcase_"Mental Out"… Five_Over Modelcase_"Matrio-" She broke her focus as a sound caught her attention, spinning around and moving her flashlight to see that Ruiko was wincing at the sound she'd accidentally made while searching one of the Powered Suits- accidentally knocking a ladder over that was next to the suit.

"Fucking for real, Ruiko!?" Frenda hissed angrily, Ruiko herself looking slightly panicked at having made the noise, the sounds of footsteps being heard off in the distance- too close for comfort.

Frenda dashed over to the knocked-over ladder and quickly put it back up, turning back to Ruiko who was hastily stuffing something in her bag. Frenda didn't have the time or focus to worry about what, just impatiently shoving at Ruiko to start moving. The pair dashed for the maintenance ladder, running across the walkway as fast as they could to the other end, both hoping silently that the next maintenance hallway would lead them somewhere that didn't include a horde of guards or...

* * *

"A dead end." Ruiko sighed as the hallway they'd run down finally terminated with a nondescript concrete wall with no obvious way out other than back the way they came. Every single exit they found seemed to have a kicked beehive only with soldiers and automatic weapons on the other side.

"My turn." Frenda grinned, walking up to the metal wall and pressing her ear against it, lightly tapping it. "Hmmm…"

"Uh… what are you doing?" Ruiko asked with a raised eyebrow, as Frenda pulled away and began to run a line of tape along the wall, forming a large rectangle.

"This." She pulled out a sharp, pointed device and stabbed at the tape, which immediately burst into light and seared a line along the wall. Reaching up and pressing a hand-held circular magnet, she pressed it against the wall, pressing a button to activate it, and then grunted loudly as she began to pull. Ruiko, mercifully, rushed forward just as that section of the wall gave out, helping her lower it down to the ground without it crushing Frenda.

"What… was that?" Ruiko asked as they wiped sweat from their brows, Frenda looking very pleased.

"Special little invention of mine. Shaped nanothermite cutting tape. Touch it off and it sears right through most metal sheets." She grinned, before turning toward the rectangular hole she'd just made in the wall. Both girls peeked through it, and just as Frenda had estimated when she tapped the wall, there was an opening on the other side.

It was yet another large, very dark room, only the small amount of illumination came from glowing tanks of liquid this time.

"The hell?" Frenda muttered as she pulled out a flashlight, carefully dropping down to the floor. "Tch, that's too high to get the plate back in place, too." Ruiko followed shortly after, pulling out a flashlight of her own as they began to investigate.

"Hey, how's progress guys? You find a computer yet?" Uiharu's voice came over the comms at last, sounding excessively worried by their silence.

"Huh? Oh, y-yeah, we found our way into… a lab of some sort, I think. There's gotta be one in here somewhere, right? Ah,there!" Ruiko quietly ran over to the nearby terminal as Frenda continued to poke around with her flashlight.

"Shit, that maintenance tunnel must have been on a downward grade. Goddamn, can't believe I missed that there was a slope... Anyway, hear that?" Frenda asked, pointing her flashlight up at the ceiling. Ruiko paused in her search for an input on the terminal, and listened, hearing the distant pounding of something heavy. She nodded. "That's the sound of walkers moving about. There must be a hangar above us." Frenda concluded, Ruiko humming in thought in response. Looking back to the computer, flashlight in her mouth to help her move about, she plugged in the wireless receiver she had.

"Gaht iht." She said through the flashlight over the comm to Uiharu, who she heard typing rather quickly as she broke into the terminal.

Frenda, meanwhile, looked over the various pieces of lab equipment, pausing at a row of liquid-filled tanks.

"Huh… one of the tanks here is missing. They must have moved whatever was in it…" Frenda muttered aloud as she noticed a gap in the row of tanks. Leaning forward toward the monitor attached to the now-vacant holder of the tank, she hummed as she read the name on it.

"FT-01… Weird." Frenda mused, before moving onto the next tank, which had another name, or- more accurately- designation, on it. "A-02? Not exactly throwing details on this are they?"

"Frenda, put on a camera monocle. I need to see what you're seeing." Misaki's voice spoke up over the comm, prompting Frenda to jump slightly.

"What? Why?" Frenda asked, prompting an annoyed sound on the other end.

"Just do it." Misaki huffed in irritation, earning an equally annoyed growl from Frenda.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Frenda snarked as she put one of those monocles on, attaching it to the ear-comm. Frenda didn't question how Uiharu or Misaki had gotten their hands on what she was fairly certain was military issue equipment.

Over by the computer, Ruiko watched the screen as Uiharu worked her magic, bashing through any security it might have had to search for what she needed.

"OK! I have a map and… how did you guys get even DEEPER into the facility?" Uiharu asked with an exasperated tone.

"...Luck?" Ruiko said in a completely unconvincing tone, grinning cheekily to herself. Uiharu groaned on the other end, before continuing.

"Saten-san, you really, really enjoy making my life harder…" She groaned out, the screen coming to life as Uiharu began to plot an exit out of the facility for them, the map appearing in front of Ruiko's sight.

Over back by the tanks, Frenda turned her head to get the scene into sight, Misaki at first quiet as she watched from the camera.

"That's… that's cloning equipment." Misaki said in a hushed whisper. Frenda froze for a moment, not responding, just listening to the tone of seriousness in Misaki's words.

"...There's ten tanks here." Frenda said quietly. "Do you think… that there were clones in them?"

"Move over to the desk, see if there are any records." Misaki instructed, Frenda bristling under the orders, but doing it anyway, starting to sort through the various piled up items on the desk.

Over by the computer, Ruiko continued staring into the monitor looking slightly bored.

The screen suddenly clearing drew Ruiko's eye and her boredom was banished as she saw what appeared.

This is _Depot (Diagrammix qrisc_68k 0.23.7) 22:19:09

c5labs login: indigo

Password:

Last login: from fd08:f582:32f8:48d9:8400:3ece:524b:e98c on pts/49

indigo c5labs ~ $

Ruiko's eyes went wide as she read those haunting words. "U-um… Uiharu?" She said nervously.

"Oh no." Uiharu said in a horrified whisper. "You're… you're in HIS LAB! He's in the building! You need to leave, now!"

"We're in whose lab!?" Frenda ran up to join them, holding an armful of documents and tablets, starting to shove them into Ruiko's bag without asking, looking slightly frantic. What had she found over there?

"That lunatic's! We need to le-" Her words were cut short as a buzzing was heard, signaling the stop of an elevator on their level. Both of them spun to look at a pair of automatic double doors, a red light above it turning green. Both leaped down and hid behind a lab table, pressing up against it just as the doors opened. Footsteps echoed throughout the cavernous room.

Frenda and Ruiko looked at each other, both their eyes containing flickers of fear. Their comms were silent, as if Misaki and Uiharu dared not speak a word that might even have the chance to give them away.

"...Was someone in here?" hissed the man who could only be Indigo from across the room, standing right near where Frenda had been rifling through documents. Both of them felt their hearts freeze. Ruiko felt Frenda tug on her arm and start to crawl on the floor toward the door he had just come through. Ruiko followed, doing her best to remain silent as they slid along the floor. They listened to his footsteps as he began to move around the edge of the room. They turned a corner and hid behind one end of the table just as a slight movement told them he'd reached the terminal they'd had Uiharu hack into.

"What's this?" The voice muttered, and there was a sound of something getting pulled out of- OH NO THE TRANSCEIVER.

"Who was… What.. the fuck?" The voice hissed, both Frenda and Ruiko not waiting to move toward the door faster, hoping he did not hear them. "Who- WHAT THE FUCK!?" the voice suddenly yelled, and Frenda realized what he saw. Namely the giant fuck-off hole she'd carved into the upper wall.

"Run." Frenda said just as they were just a few dozen feet from the door, pulling Ruiko up and running full sprint toward the door. Frenda chucked a grenade as they bolted, the pin on her finger as it flew through the air.

"Quick, while he's- FUCK!" Frenda cried out in surprise as they reached the door, the smoke grenade she'd just thrown coming back at her from the force of a thrown knife sticking it in mid-air and pinning it to the wall in the open hallway. It burst on impact, thick choking smoke flowing over them.

Both began to cough, stumbling through the haze. Experience guiding her, Frenda pulled Ruiko down and lead her toward the elevator in a crawl. She cursed some more as the distinct tink and thonk of knives hitting solid surfaces made it clear their billowing cloud was under a barrage of blades. One of them grazed the back of Ruiko's head, strands of hair falling onto the ground as some blood began to pour down her scalp from a deep cut, but she somehow managed to avoid crying out in pain and giving up their position.

Stumbling in a rushed panic, they collapsed into the elevator. Frenda jumped up and mashed the close button as fast as she could.

"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU'RE FUCKING WITH?! YOU'RE FUCKING DEAD!" Came the enraged rasp just as the doors finally closed. Dents appeared as he smashed into the metal. Frenda continued her button abuse on one that would take them up when a knife pierced through the door. Ruiko leaped up, grabbing a small bat out of her bag and smashing it against the knife, forcing it to pop out the other end. With a shudder, the elevator began to rise as the knife was removed.

"Are you two alive?!" The voices of Misaki and Uiharu cried in unison as they began to go up.

"B-barely." Ruiko panted out, drawing the handgun from her waist nervously, feeling like she might be needing it. Frenda did the same, one hand on her gun, and another drawing a small rocket-shaped hand-held device that Ruiko was fairly confident was an actual rocket based on prior experience with Frenda.

"I can't believe he was here. You need to get out, now." Misaki fretted, Frenda and Ruiko too jittery to even consider a snarky reply. They were both taking these precious few seconds to catch their breath after the smoke, clearing their throats as well as their heads.

The elevator dinged as it stopped at the next level, the doors opening.

"Intruders are in the ele-?" A guard said as he looked at the opening doors, one hand to his ear as he was clearly listening to instructions on the other end of his communication headset. There was an awkward, tense pause as the pair of intruders stared at the mercenary.

"FUCK!" He immediately grabbed at the rifle hanging around his shoulders, both Ruiko and Frenda acting on reflex, raising their guns up and pulling the trigger. There was just a few brief cracks and flashes of gunfire before the guard fell backward, unmoving. Frenda was panting just slightly from the surprise, but Ruiko, she could see the beginnings of a panic attack showing. That wasn't surprising. The girl had just shot someone. However...

They didn't have time for it. Frenda grabbed Ruiko's hand and quickly pulled her out of the elevator just as the doors began to close again, likely to go down and pick up the psychopath with the knives.

"Ruiko, focus! We don't have time for this, we're going to die if we don't focus!" Frenda yelled at her, pulling her down the hall and then quickly down another. Ruiko nodded shakily as she seemed to try to pull herself together, though her breathing was irregular and she barely kept pace with the much-shorter Frenda

The sound of a blaring alarm was completely unsurprising as it suddenly sprang to life.

"Yeah, that's fair." Frenda groaned at the alarm as it went off. Neither paused in their dead sprint, not wanting to be caught by Indigo who was undoubtedly searching for them now.

"Just follow my directions! There's a hanger elevator you can use to get out, it's normally used to raise the drones to the surface!" Uiharu said in a near-shout over the comms. Uiharu may have lost her direct connection, but she still had her maps she'd downloaded.

Weaving and twisting through halls, hiding behind pipes and in side rooms as guards scrambled around to figure out what was happening and finding the intruders, a thought did occur to Frenda.

"They… aren't just looking for us." She noted, frowning.

"Explain," Misaki ordered tersely as the pair continued their flight.

"They're all heading in a particular direction instead of using a search pattern. They're very sure they have a reason to go that way." A pause followed Frenda's explanation.

"Good, then. Makes it easier for you to get out of there." Neither Frenda nor Ruiko were interested in debating that topic.

A few hallways later found them in an empty hangar. It looked like people had all rushed off to deal with the current crisis, leaving it mercifully empty. A large metal gate was on one end of the room, with a transparent square tube leading up into the ceiling- the lift.

"Yes!" Ruiko cheered as they began to run toward it. Almost free!

"Let's get the fuck-" Frenda began, pausing as the gate began to open of its own accord. They both froze as the gate slid open with a metallic groan, and they saw the figure standing and patiently waiting for them.

"GET OUT OF THERE!" Misaki cried in alarm as she saw the figure from Frenda's monocle feed.

Standing and waiting was a woman in a skin-tight bodysuit, a steel mask fastened to her head and concealing her face. Small bits of armored plating adorned her figure, seemingly placed more to emphasise the indecency of the ensemble than to provide any sort of protection. Silver-white neck length hair was all that remained exposed in her fearful regalia.

"She was the one who attacked us on the highway, do not fight her! Just get out!" Uiharu reinforced Misaki's panic with her own. "How… How is she even alive after Sogiita-san punched her right in the head without holding back?" Uiharu whispered in horror, Frenda paling as she got a basis for what kind of horror was approaching them at a sedate pace.

"SHOOT HER!" Frenda yelled to Ruiko as she reached under her own skirt, Ruiko responding on reflex and raising her gun as Frenda pulled out a pair of hand propelled rockets in one hand, and another pair in the next.

Ruiko let off several shots, most going wide due to her shaking grip, but one-

Ruiko blinked and gasped in pain as she felt searing pain on her neck. Frenda glanced over and saw what was undoubtedly a bullet graze on the left side of Ruiko's throat, a bullet having just narrowly missed a lethal path through her carotid artery.

"W-who-?" Frenda didn't wait to finish that thought, throwing all four of the rockets at the calmly approaching figure, the missiles striking the ground and exploding in a cacophony of deafening noise and blinding light. After a pause to reorient themselves, both didn't wait and sprinted around the pillar of smoke where the girl had once stood.

"That should have at least stunned her-" Frenda began to say, the sentence cut off as a painful impact suddenly hit her. Frenda toppled onto the ground, rolling and sliding from both her sprint and the impact. A piece of metal, torn from the metal floor, had appeared out of nowhere it seemed, the chunk of heavy material having slammed right into Frenda's ribs with a sickening crunch.

Ruiko spun and saw, with unrestrained terror, as the figure walked out of the smoke completely unaffected.

"H-how?" Was all she could say, shaking and terrified. Who could survive just taking explosives right to the face without a scratch?

In a sudden burst of motion, the girl launched at her with immense speed and Ruiko just barely managed to dive out of the way of the outstretched hand. The hand touched the wall behind her, and Ruiko could only watch in shock as the wall literally crumpled into a crater as though it had been hit with a shot from Mikoto's Railgun.

"What… the fuck?" Frenda gasped out as she fought her way to her feet, the absolutely agonizing pain emanating from her ribs making every breath a struggle. The silent antagonist turned, throwing what had to be several hundred pounds of metal from the wall Frenda's way with all the urgency of a casual baseball toss. Frenda groaned in pain from slamming into the ground again to avoid the projectile.

The figure paused seeming...confused? What was wrong with her? In fact, everything she did came only after one of those odd pauses, as if she had to consider each action carefully.

"Ruiko! Quick! Run back the way we came, fuck this!" Frenda yelled as she flicked her skirt, a trio of grenades dropping out onto the ground. Frenda pulled her beret over her face and Ruiko thankfully saw what was happening just in time to shield her eyes- though not her ears.

A flashbang boomed through the room as the pair of smoke grenades poured out the black cloud. Ruiko stumbled around in pain, her ears ringing from the sound. She was stumbling toward the door, but suddenly felt a hand grab hers and pull her in the opposite direction.

Slammed into a wall, she blinked as she tried to reorient herself, struggling against the figure but too stunned to put up a good fight. That thing was going to kill her-

A squeeze on her rear told her, no, that was Frenda. She paused in her struggle, waiting, and as the smoke began to clear in the large room, realized she was pinned into a corner of the lift, pressed up against the box-shaped lift controls that stood attached to the platform. Frenda pressed herself closely against Ruiko, effectively in her lap, both of them squeezing their bodies to make as small a profile as they could to hide behind their flimsy cover. And waited. And waited.

Finally, the sound of an automatic door was heard opening and closing.

"Oh gods, she fell for it." Frenda said, looking like she was about to piss herself. She slammed her hand down on the lift controls, telling it to go up after a couple of minutes of waiting.

"N...nice... bluff..." Ruiko coughed out.

"Crazy strong and crazy crazy, but not too bright, I guess." Frenda gasped out as the lift began to rise up. Frenda's hat had a special material for keeping the smoke out of her lungs, but Ruiko had no such luck. They'd need to rectify that. Looking Ruiko up and down, she was a hot mess, blood on her throat from the graze, and a line of the red substance still pouring from the head wound she'd received from Indigo's knife. They hadn't really had time to treat it. Did they have time on this elevator?

"What… the fuck even was that?" Ruiko whispered as the lift rose toward the surface. Misaki had a helpful answer.

"Frankenstein's monster."


	29. Chapter 29 - The Star, Reversed

"You're all fucking incompetent!"

The assortment of mercenary captains shifted anxiously as Indigo stormed through the command center, his rage at their failure to capture any of the intruders at a boiling point. Their nervousness was not unfounded: it wouldn't be the first time that someone who failed him left the room in a body bag. Their collective gazes flicked from Indigo to the petite terror currently standing next to the room's only exit. Her faceless steel mask stared into space, her silver-white hair lightly reflecting the red light above the door.

"And you!" Indigo's rage mercifully, for the captains, shifted onto said silver-haired terror, his arm lashing out and smashing the girls head against the wall with a loud metallic clang as the side of the mask dinged into the surface.

"How could you let them just slip by you!?" He hissed at her, though his question got no response. The girl was motionless as she stood pinned to the wall by the head, the featureless mask hiding any emotion- though every individual present suspected that the emotion shown was 'none'.

After several seconds of grinding her head into the wall, he growled and released her.

"Useless." He stormed back to the table that sat at the center of the room, slamming his hands down on it. The girl righted herself, standing up straight once more, as if she had not just been violently assaulted.

The seconds ticked on in tense silence as Indigo skimmed an assortment of reports in front of him before one of the squad captains stepped up to risk asking the important question.

"Your orders, sir?" Her voice was firm, with confidence in it- showing weakness to her psychopath employer was a good way to get gutted. They'd all witnessed it first-hand. Her question earned a brief glare from the man in front of her, a violet eye peeking out from his normally squinted gaze.

"We're compromised. Relocate to the FT facility where FT-01 is currently. Up security there." He ordered, pushing off of the table and turning to leave.

"And you, sir?" The brave woman dared to ask. There was a pause before Indigo looked over his shoulder.

"I'm going to go clean up your mess."

* * *

"Bit of a role-reversal this time 'round, huh?" Frenda grinned at Ruiko tiredly, heavy bags under her eyes. Ruiko made a grumbling sound from the tank filled with translucent blue liquid, the very same tank that Frenda had been in after getting shot. Now it was Ruiko's turn, resting in the medical fluid to recover.

The pair had struggled to escape the pursuing mercenaries sent out after them, which unfortunately left Ruiko's wounds without proper treatment for far longer than was especially healthy. Hypovolemic shock was starting to set in toward the end, so Frenda had called in a favor from Shiage to get them to this private facility.

Now Ruiko floated and Frenda teased her by blatantly enjoying the view of her through the tank, Ruiko doing her best to cover herself but unable to throw things at Frenda in revenge. It was an unfortunate circumstance.

"Whatever…" Ruiko said, making a gagging motion just before speaking. Talking with liquid breathing fluid in her lungs was deeply unsettling and uncomfortable to boot. Not too long ago, Ruiko would have marveled that she could talk at all in that state, but she had just raided a giant robot factory that had a private cloning facility in the basement. Honestly, she should really stop being surprised by the medical technology of Academy City.

"You get used to it." Frenda assured her as Ruiko pouted in the tank. Frenda's gaze slowly slid away from Ruiko, appearing distant.

"You… OK?" Ruiko asked, concerned. Frenda just seemed so off lately. Depressed, even.

Frenda flashed her a weak smile. "Just fine." She dismissed the query with a flippant wave of her hand. Ruiko frowned more, and wondered if she should… and decided- yes, she should.

"You're lying, Frenda," Ruiko accused, earning her an angry look from her partner.

"And what about you? You're the one who got shot, the one who actually had shit she's not used to happen to her. And the ladder thing, what the fuck was that all about?" She shot back rapidly, angrily, her eyes flaring. Ruiko shrunk a little at the barrage of temper, but the outburst only confirmed her suspicions.

"I'm sorry about the ladder. That was totally my mistake. I was looking at something and it got caught when I turned and...yeah. Sorry." Ruiko replied, and her earnest apology took a lot of wind out of Frenda's sails, she could tell. Frenda stormed over to her bag, rifling through it until she came out with a big wad of stretchy black bands.

"Hard Taping?" Frenda questioned as she realized what it was, turning to look at Ruiko floating there, raising an eyebrow.

"Uh… what's that?" Ruiko asked, trying to laugh as she rubbed her head, but instead causing her to severely gag. It was so uncomfortable, she couldn't take it. It did make Frenda grin a little, so… positives?

"It's a kind of ceramic composite with an electropolymer substrate used in Powered Suits and some vehicle suspension… among other things. Makes them faster, stronger, that sort of thing. They're kind of nuts, though. Saw someone's arm get snapped like a twig when the Powered Suit supports suddenly failed." She grinned slightly at the memory, but it faltered when she noticed Ruiko's scowl. "He deserved it! Honest!"

Ruiko floated there quietly for a minute with her eyes closed, so Frenda put the stolen goods back into the bag with a shrug.

"I'll let you rest, maybe go lie down-"

"Frenda. Are you… not happy?" Ruiko asked, steering back to the previous topic even though Frenda had clearly attempted to distract her. That lengthy explanation on the Hard Taping was just another sign that she was trying to hide something. Ruiko knew how hypocritical it was; she didn't want to talk about her own role in the evening either. She was trying so hard to not focus on what happened...

Frenda opened her mouth, probably planning to give another heated response, but it seemed like she was finally out of steam, too tired to get worked up. She sighed and looked away. A self-pitying voice of doubt and insecurity pushed Ruiko to rephrase her question.

"Is it… Is it us? This?" She asked, wondering if Frenda was starting to regret their chaotic and confusing relationship. Frenda whipped back around with panic clear in her expression.

"N-no! No no no, it's not us!" Frenda said, violently waving her hands in front of her to dismiss the notion. Ruiko would be lying if she were to say she didn't find such a visceral reaction reassuring.

"O-oh. Good." Ruiko stuttered out somewhat nervously, blinking in surprise as Frenda approached the tank and rested her forehead against the transparent surface, her eyes sliding closed.

"Frenda…" Ruiko whispered out quietly. "Please…" She pressed her hands against the transparent surface, pushing herself down in the fluid to rest her own forehead against the inside of the tank to mirror Frenda. "What's going on? I'm not an idio- Well, I'm not oblivious. Something's been eating at you. I can tell you aren't happy. Wha-"

"Why do you tolerate my existence, Ruiko?"

Frenda's question was so sudden, and so… so sad, that it caught Ruiko completely off guard.

"I am a murderer. A mercenary. I've done horrible things. Hell, I enjoyed doing them! You have no reason to trust me, no reason to want such an evil person around, no reason to lo-... lo-..." She stumbled on the word, sighing again. "No reason." She said with a sense of finality.

Ruiko paused as she collected her thoughts, trying to ignore the knife in her heart at Frenda's raw pain. She felt such shame for not pressing this earlier. How much was Frenda hiding?

"Frenda… whatever your history, whatever you've done... you're still right." Ruiko said, biting her lip. "This city… has a dark side that I never realized was there. I… I want to change it. I can't do that by denying that it exists." She pressed her head a little harder into the surface of the tank. "Or by denying that the people who are a part of it are people."

Frenda remained still and silent as Ruiko spoke, her eyes squeezed shut, as if it would hide her from Ruiko's judgement.

"You're not evil, Frenda. You're important to me. You inspire me to action instead of wallowing in self-pity all day and night. You push me to embrace life in a way I never would have before, never even considered before." She kept going, her voice soft, somewhat nervous. "Maybe even in a somewhat shameless manner." She smiled, a slight chuckle escaping her lips, mercifully free of a gag.

"I know I can't just… fix everything with some nice words. Don't you have anything-" She paused mid-thought. "What has changed to make you feel this way?" She asked softly, wanting desperately to leave the tank and wipe away the silent tears tracing Frenda's cheeks. Her reply came out so softly Ruiko barely heard it.

"I… I don't know."

* * *

Frenda stared out the window, the ride silent save for her occasional depressed sigh. It was even free of Shiage's usual cussing about other drivers as he careened through the dense city traffic.

"Hey, Shiage."

She could practically hear him jump in his seat next to her in surprise, but she couldn't even work up the energy to be amused.

"Y-yeah, what's up?" He asked, though Frenda did not turn to look at him, her gaze stuck on the passing terrain.

"You're close to Rikou, right? How's she doing?" She asked softly, shifting to rest her chin in the palm of her hand as she continued to watch out her window. There was a pause from Shiage, as if he was uncertain how to answer. It made her wonder if Shiage feared her, or her reactions. Or was it protectiveness of Rikou? Both?

"She's… doing her best. She hasn't been feeling well lately. I'm not really sure why. Maybe too many missions, or something…" Shiage finally gave his reply, though she could tell he cautiously measured his words, picking them with great care. Frenda couldn't help but wonder why.

"Oh… I see." It was all she could think to say. She just… didn't know how to really respond. Maybe they were pushing Rikou too hard, but there was no way Mugino would slow down. She was obsessed with killing SCHOOL and Frenda didn't even want to be in the same zip code as Mugino if someone was stupid enough to suggest it. She was so much more volatile these days.

They lapsed back into silence which lingered even once they finally reached the ITEM compound. She parted ways with Shiage with a half-hearted wave, getting into the elevator and riding it up to the floor her room was on. She drifted inside, pausing to look around her abode. She hadn't been back here in a while, opting to stay with Ruiko whenever she could get away between missions.

Fuck was she exhausted, though. She never told Ruiko, but she had to pull double duty when helping her, going from training or whatever Misaki had lined up to ITEM jobs in the same day.

Her gaze tracked listlessly around the room filled with stuffed animals, red and dark gray decor, and most notably, an assortment of gifts for various friends birthdays. She walked over to one, staring blankly at it. It was a scarf for a girl who worked at her favorite diner, who always knew what she wanted. She'd had to really be sneaky to find out what she might like and what her birthday was.

Another was a book for a younger boy she knew at her school that she so rarely attended, whom she had taught some things in chemistry. He was a nice kid.

She paused on her way to a third, clenching at her chest. Why did everything feel so empty? Why did none of this bring her any joy? She liked getting things for her friends. Loved their reactions. Why was everything just so hollow?

She drifted over to her computer, turning it on, sorting through it absentmindedly until she got to her video journal.

The screen came to life as her own face showed up on it, happily chattering on and on about her day, her smile wide and goofy.

A video of her performing a rather sultry dance drifted on by, Frenda barely reacting as she watched it- she'd made that for Mugino months ago for her birthday. The video ended and moved on to another, the picture lighting up and showing her own pouting face.

"Uggghhh, today suuucked! We had this crazy job protecting these research facilities, and I actually went toe-to-toe with the Railgun of all people! I almost won too! But something weird happened and it fucked me over, Mugino had to bail me out. She was so mad at me for failing, my ass is still red and stinging from her punishment spanks." The video-Frenda whined on and on, sighing as she leaned into her desk toward the camera and giving it a smile.

"But whatever! Tomorrow's another day, and I'm sure Mugino forgives me by now! We're the bestest of friends." The video-Frenda grinned at the camera before she stopped the recording, leaving only the present day Frenda to stare at the screen, tears pouring down her face.

"Why…?" She asked the empty room around her, quiet sobs escaping her.

"Why can't I feel happy anymore?"

* * *

Though she was no fan of having unwanted holes in her body, Ruiko was still relieved to get out of the creepy healing tank and on her way home. A short trip on public transportation found her back at the house and only a bit lightheaded. She needed to get inside, swipe some meat from the fridge, and just… hide in her room.

She had held it in for so long, pushing down the panic and anxiety and raw emotion of seeing that man shot dead., It was the night of Treefall all over again, the night she'd hefted her bat and-

No, no, she needed to get inside, not focus on it, not go to pieces in public in the middle of the night.

Stealthily, she pushed the door open just far enough to slip inside and pivot to gingerly ease it closed. Thankfully, the foyer was shrouded in darkness as it seemed everyone was either out or asleep. She wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone. She'd barely held her shit together with Frenda.

"OK, now I just-" She began to whisper to herself.

"Good evening, Saten-san," came the tightly controlled voice of the local royalty. Crap.

Ruiko whipped around to find Misaki waiting for her in the hall. Before she could even get a word out, Misaki pulled out a remote that was concealed in the crook of her crossed arms. One flick of the remote and beeping sound later, Ruiko felt like her mind was just… clear.

"Um… huh?" Ruiko blinked rapidly, feeling indescribably better. Just like that, her haunting recrimination vanished without a trace.

"There, that should help relieve the flashbacks and intrusive thoughts, for now." Misaki said in a pompous, agitated tone as she walked over to a lamp and turned it on, illuminating the room. Ruiko opened her mouth to thank her- genuinely appreciative- but it was cut off with a wave of her hand.

"No. No apologies. Just tell me you're done with this foolishness. You almost died tonight, and now…" The unspoken statement of her having killed someone hung in the air. Despite that wordless implication, it did not stop Ruiko's blistering rage.

"Excuse you!?" Ruiko snapped, any hesitation she may have had from her trauma cut off entirely thanks to Misaki's powers.

"You heard me. Let me just clear this from your mind so you can go back to-" She did not get to finish that statement before Ruiko had crossed the room. For a brief moment, alarm played across Misaki's eyes. Then it was gone, lost in her own assurance of her Ability. Misaki was far more powerful. Therefore she had nothing to fear from Ruiko. It was as obvious as it was infuriating.

This did not stop Ruiko's towering height from having a trace of intimidation factor to it. Ruiko stared down at Misaki with contempt, towering over the shorter girl by a solid eight inches, nonetheless, Misaki didn't waver as she kept maintained eye contact with the girl across from her.

"Fine." Misaki conceded, Ruiko blinking in surprise as she turned and walked toward the Eastern sitting room. "Let's talk."

Ruiko hesitated in the entrance hall before following, sitting down at the table with a sigh. Misaki sat across from her, rubbing her temple.

"Saten-san… I do not want to see you hurt. Mentally or physically. And to say Haru-chan is also worried for you would be a monumental understatement." Misaki looked up at Ruiko who sighed in reply.

"I know. Do you think I ever wasn't worried when she was in Judgement, or the things she's involved with now? Being behind a computer screen won't stop that freak from coming after her." Ruiko threaded her fingers together, her hands squeezing and tensing. Her eyes were downcast as she stared at hands.

"Nothing has changed from our last conversation." Ruiko continued, looking up to meet Misaki's eyes. "I've made my choice. Please don't underestimate me because I'm 'just a regular human'. Level Zero or not, I can do this. And I know you would not be having this conversation with Mikoto if she wasn't still recovering, or Kuroko if she still had her powers." She finished firmly, her jaw going rigid.

Misaki stared at Ruiko for a long while, her hand lightly playing with the remote on the table, dragging her finger along the surface to make it spin in place. There was a shade of… guilt? Ruiko could swear that's what she saw in Misaki's eyes, but wasn't so sure. Maybe there was a cold reading card she could find...

"Very well, Saten-san." Misaki stood, sighing. "Let me know if you need to talk. Determined or not, your mental health matters." She said firmly, giving Ruiko a stern look. "Just talk to me, if you have anything on your mind." Misaki brushed her skirt off and turned to leave, but stopped as Ruiko spoke.

"A-Actually…" Ruiko began, Misaki turning with a raised eyebrow. "It's… not about me, but, uh…" Ruiko fidgeted a bit.

"Frenda?" Misaki guessed, though Ruiko wondered if it was a guess, or her earlier trick also included some mind-reading.

"Yeah." Ruiko nodded softly, the concern evident on her face. "She's… suffering. I'm not oblivious, but I just don't know what to do, or say. I just-" Misaki sat back down, raising a hand to stop Ruiko, nodding with an understanding expression.

"Nor am I oblivious. I know of Frenda's past and present, I know what she's going through. I know how her mind works very, very well." Misaki explained, sighing. Ruiko raised an eyebrow at that, suspicion edging into her mind.

"Have you been reading her mind?" Ruiko asked, trying to restrain the accusatory tone.

"Among a few other things. Frenda is… complicated. Nonetheless, I did take measures to ensure she wasn't dangerous around Haru-chan. You'll have to forgive me for not relying purely on trust when it comes to someone who has killed for money." Misaki's tone wasn't angry or even judgemental, but it was without remorse. Ruiko leaned back into her seat, simmering, but said nothing in reply to that. She couldn't fault Misaki for it, even if it did make her mad.

"So… What is happening?" Ruiko asked, her tone laden with guilt as she asked to invade Frenda's deepest privacy. She just needed to know.

Misaki hummed in response, leaning back and clearly considering how to answer.

"Beyond the textbook depression that you are no doubt seeing, it's something deep and ingrained within her. Are you familiar with the term 'compartmentalisation'?"

Ruiko shook her head in reply, simply listening.

"It's a psychological defense. Frenda was truly a master at it. She could separate her professional life from her personal life with ease. She could kill one night and return to being a normal teenager the next. She completely disconnected one 'life' from the other. It's a way of divorcing responsibility and mindset from a behavior, a persistent behavior in this particular case." Misaki began to explain, steepling her fingers.

"Was?" Ruiko chimed in, catching the past tense at the start. The explanation reminded her of something Frenda said to her once when they were training. She didn't want to mix memories of Ruiko with memories of her job.

"Yes, was. Frenda's ability to compartmentalize has almost completely broken down. Now… Now she's suffering all that guilt, all that doubt, everything she denied. Things that didn't bother her before when she got into a particular professional mindset now haunt her. And the more she reflects on her past actions, the more it weighs her down, the guiltier she feels, the more she feels… unworthy." Misaki sighed out, frowning.

"How… why did it break down?" Ruiko asked with a soft voice, and to her surprise, Misaki smiled at her a little grimly.

"She chose to save you. She mixed her personal affection with her professional attitude and skills. She killed to defend you." Misaki explained softly, looking into Ruiko's eyes as guilt flooded them.

"So she's in pain because-"

"No." Misaki cut her off. "Don't feel guilt or responsibility, at least not in that sense. Frenda has been coasting, not addressing her own emotional trauma or her own past for far too long. Simply because… it was easier. It's easier to get lost in a wave of money and hedonism than to take responsibility for the things you hold…" Misaki trailed off, something flickering in her eyes before she seemed to abandon that train of thought.

"She has a lot she needs to come to terms with, things she has pushed off for years. This was inevitable, honestly." Misaki said, in as reassuring tone as she could. Ruiko looked somewhat comforted, sighing herself.

"So what do I do?" Ruiko asked, biting her lip. "I don't know how to even begin to help her with something that heavy."

"Frenda divorced herself from the responsibility of the things she's going to need to do one day. That day is coming up, and all you can do is be there for her. To support her." Misaki gave Ruiko a somewhat nostalgic look.

"Haru-chan taught me something very important. A lesson that has really shifted my perspective." She smiled softly, her expression one of fondness at the thought.

"No one can truly live in this world alone."


	30. Chapter 30 - Wheel of Fortune, Upright

A/N: Sorry for the long delay. Health issues and technology issues slowed the finalizing process a bit. But not to worry- I've got like, 5 more chapters in their editing phase right now. We'll be uploading chapters as fast as possible!

* * *

After her chat with Misaki, Ruiko had stumbled her way upstairs and into her room, asleep before her head even hit the pillow. She was utterly exhausted. Beyond spent. Emotionally, mentally, physically… just done.

Her eyes snapped open only a moment later to find... what, a measly four hours had passed? That's what the clock said after she took a few seconds to focus on it. It sure FELT like it was only four hours. In some distant part of her hazy, half-awake musing, she thought this must be what ER staff feels like all the time. Sucks to be them.

But still. Four hours. She'd only managed to crash out for four hours. That was like… a tenth of what she felt was her due. But going back to sleep... right, sleeping more wasn't quite in the cards just yet. It couldn't be helped.

...The screaming coming from downstairs was just way too much.

Ruiko levered herself upright and off the bed, almost walking out until she realized she was completely naked- Misaki had forced her to take her clothes off for washing (or maybe trashing since they were dyed in her own blood). Grumbling, she stumbled around the room and grabbed a large t-shirt and threw it on. She paused. Would it be… no, not quite long enough. She fought to keep her eyes partially open as she bumbled aimlessly in a half-asleep stupor. Some pajama pants made their way to her hand at some point. Polite. She rewarded them by attempting to put them on. It was a challenge, but not as much as hell robots or cooking good eggs. She definitely didn't fall over or smack her head against the wall. Briefly, she considered grabbing her boots so she could plant them up someone's ass. But the pants reminded her she was already running late.

The helpful pants were right, the hollering and carrying-on had continued unabated in the meantime. What the hell. It was two-something in the morning, seriously, couldn't it wait?

Ambling out of her bedroom and down the stairs, the shouting started to sound more like words instead of adults from that one old American cartoon.

"You manipulative, lying bitch!" Yep. Words. That one was distinctly Mikoto's voice thundering out from the Western sitting room. Ruiko paused at the last step of the stairs, listening. Probably the angriest she'd ever heard Her Zappiness.

"Oh, spare me, Railgun! Your sanctimonious coddling is unbearably naive!" Was the surprisingly furious and raised voice of Misaki.

"You're certainly one to talk! Do you even hear yourself, or is it too difficult over the mire of your ego?!" Came the loud and equally enraged voice of Kuroko, much to Ruiko's alarm.

"P-Please, enough! C-come on!" followed the muffled voice of Uiharu, almost entirely drowned out by the continuous racket of the other three. Ruiko gave up trying to figure out what they were saying, they were way too focused on shouting over each other.

She crept from the stairs on shaking legs, more terrified to wade into this than invading a secret murderbot hive. Rounding the corner she stopped to soak in the horrorshow of what had clearly been an escalating argument. Some burn marks around the room told the story of Mikoto's temper causing electrical jolts to scorch things, and a couple items had clearly been knocked over and broken in a rage, though by who wasn't clear. All four girls were in the midst of this chaos. Misaki had taken cover behind a tall chair, judging by the burn marks on it, but looked legitimately angry all the same. No sign of the unruffled Queen was present.. Mikoto was heavily leaning into… was that her crutch? It looked different from- no, belay that,her other hand brandished an arcade token in a clear display of threat.

Uiharu was in front of Kuroko, hands on her shoulders, seemingly trying to hold her back from doing something rash based on the fire in Shirai's eyes.

And at the center of this argument, Ruiko saw it. The spark that touched off the whole brouhaha. There, on the coffee table, was a pile of clothes that she had, in her exhausted stupor, tossed into a laundry basket.

Her torn, ruined, blood-soaked clothes.

"You are a scheming snake, I cannot believe I ever considered trusting you!" Mikoto declared over the commotion, pointing a finger at Misaki, arcade coin still tucked between her middle and ring finger.

"And you're a short-sighted brat! This is why I told you to mind your own affairs like the dumb little girl that you are!" Misaki shouted back.

"Fuck you and fuck your patronizing bullshit!" Mikoto bellowed, her eyes burning with rage.

"Oh please, patronizin-" Misaki began, only to get drowned out by Kuroko.

"Yes, patronizing, you insufferable witch! How dare you! How DARE you!" Kuroko pointed at Misaki with her metal arm, which was palpably threatening even though she was still restrained by the teary-eyed Uiharu begging them to stop.

Ruiko wasn't sure what did it, honestly. The pure exhaustion, the frustration, the embers of anger that burned in her with every single scream from her friends, all made worse by the suppressed thoughts and emotions of having nearly died and having killed someone. Again. And now her friends were fighting. AGAIN. Whatever it was, she felt a snap in her head that compelled her into action.

There was a loud thumping and popping sound as Ruiko lashed out, driving her fist through the drywall. The argument stopped instantly, the room going silent. She stayed there for a second before she moved, yanking her arm back and prowling forth.

She didn't meet anyone's eyes, her perception narrowed to a laserlike focus on her objective. Her hand lashed out again, snatching up the offending garments. She then turned her attention across the room, still ignoring the other girls as she stalked her way to the trash can. The force the clothing wad's entry nearly knocked the bin over.

"Saten-san, are… are you OK, I was really worri-" Mikoto began to say, freezing in place and going silent as Ruiko turned around. Ruiko wasn't sure what the expression on her face was right now, but it was evidently pissed enough that even Mikoto flinched, taking a few steps back.

"Are all of you done?" Ruiko asked, the exhaustion and desperate need for sleep heavy in her voice. "Well?"

Everyone shifted uncomfortably. Kuroko was the first to speak.

"We saw the bloody clothes and… you know…" Her voice was firm, with just some cracks of self-doubt.

"Assumed the worst," Ruiko stated, sighing loudly as she rubbed her face and tired eyes. There was another awkward, horribly uncomfortable pause before Ruiko looked up at them again, eyes heavy with exhaustion.

"Misaki-sama didn't do anything wrong. I…" She let out another deep, tired sigh. "I pushed her to help me and Frenda. We chose to get involved, we would have gone it alone if she hadn't." Ruiko glanced to the side. Mikoto looked away. It didn't take much to figure out what had set her off.

Concern and protectiveness.

"Hmph…" Misaki scoffed. "That is what I told them, but they did not-" Kuroko turned her gaze back to Misaki, and looked about ready to explode again before Ruiko cut in.

"Enough!" Ruiko growled, cutting off Misaki with a glare as if to say 'NOT HELPING', her fatigue weighing down even heavier on her. "This has to stop! We can't keep- we just-!" Ruiko choked on her words, wiping tears of pure frustration from her eyes, the rush of fiery rage dying out into embers. It was all so unbelievably overwhelming. She was still barely awake, her exhaustion and fatigue like rocks on her mind and water on her fiery rage.

It took her a minute to realize that the room had gone dead silent again except for her sobs as she tried to collect herself. Managing to clear her face off with her shirt and calm her breathing, she looked up at the rest, all of them looking uncomfortable and a bit guilty.

"We can't keep doing this. Not talking to each other, secrets, the passive aggressiveness… it needs to stop." Ruiko choked out with choppy breath. "We're friends. We're friends, damn it! Why are we not fighting against all of this together?" Ruiko asked, stumbling a little as her legs threatened to give out from sheer exhaustion.

Mikoto grabbed at Ruiko with one arm, helping her get over to the couch. There was a pause before someone spoke, the quiet voice of Uiharu.

"Ruiko is right. This… This is getting worse. Everything we found not even twenty-four hours ago, we… we still haven't gone through most of it, and it's-"

"Haru-chan, stop!" Misaki interrupted with an exasperated tone, pressing her hands on the backrest of the chair she'd been using as a shield. Mikoto and Kuroko moved to snap at Misaki for it, Ruiko could tell the secretiveness had finally hit its breaking point, but Uiharu beat them to it.

"No! We can't keep at this by ourselves! You said it yourself, Gunha isn't going to be able to handle this forever! Who knows what the response is going to be after that fiasco? Indigo was THERE!" Uiharu yelled, her voice holding poorly concealed fear.

Both Mikoto's and Kuroko's anger fiizzled out as they turned to look at each other, their own fear glinting in their eyes. An awkward silence stretched on in the room for an uncomfortable length of time. The truth was…

"He terrifies us." Ruiko intoned quietly, finally daring to give voice to what they all knew. "And that terror has been eating at us. Hiding in this house, Anti-Skill everywhere, his attempts on our lives, his remorseless cold heart. No one has really said it, but this pressure is eating us alive." Ruiko felt the room tensing up as she spoke. Everyone agreed, she knew they did.

"Frenda has taught me a lot. Most importantly… she taught me that if I want things to be different, I need to get off my ass and do something about it." Ruiko looked up, her eyes drifting over each of her friends. Finally, she looked at Misaki.

"Misaki-sama… I know you're trying to protect everyone from the shadows or whatever, and I appreciate it. I think we all do, really, even if some of us don't want to admit it." She shot a Significant Look at Mikoto, who blushed and sheepishly looked away. "But the secrets and lies are setting us up against each other and not against the real threat." Her hands tensed, squeezing at the couch cushions, threatening to tear at the cloth.

Ultimately, Misaki was the one who had been pulling the strings on everything. Keeping everyone inactive, pushing at them to stay safe. It was benign… but it was also patronizing.

Misaki stared back at Ruiko for a long while as silence filled the air, before letting out a loud sigh.

"I'm simply trying to keep you all safe." She said at last, her words lined with a hint of defensiveness. Ruiko could swear she even saw some misting in her eyes. Kuroko was the first to respond.

"That's not your decision to make, Shokuhou Misaki." Her words were soft, as if she was making an active effort to be composed.

A heavy silence fell over the room again, broken as Ruiko let out another sigh.

"Look… I don't think any of us are good to talk this out right now. And I…" Ruiko shook her head slowly as it lolled forward. "I can barely stay awake."

With a series of tense, silent nods, everyone began to disperse, Kuroko and Mikoto heading upstairs, quietly speaking to each other as they got to the stairs, Ruiko stumbling off the couch to drift over to her own room. She paused to glance over her shoulder at Uiharu and Misaki, blinking in surprise.

Misaki had turned away from her, but even still, she could see the glistening of tears drifting down her face as Uiharu hugged her tightly. It only took a second for Ruiko to feel like she was intruding. Without another word, she left the room, climbing up the stairs, into her room, and collapsed onto her bed.

She was asleep in an instant.

* * *

Burnt meat.

She was growing bothered by that smell a lot more these days. Frenda glanced back over her shoulder up at the smoking SCHOOL building they'd attacked, billowing smoke from the windows evidence of the fires within. Another broken facility. Another dead mercenary. Another mission where they found absolutely nothing of value. SCHOOL was somehow always one step ahead of them. What a waste of time. SCHOOL was just fucking with them at this point.

Not that Mugino listened to any dissenting opinions anymore.

"Hey, Frenda, we're leaving. Are you extracting yourself today?" Came the voice of Saiai, prompting Frenda to turn to look at her. She was dressed in her orange hoodie and some shorts, mission-ready.

Frenda's gaze turned back toward her front, where her attention had been for awhile now. A small shop, across the street from the building they'd just raided. It was blown out and destroyed, and based on the slagged hole in the SCHOOL base, it was done via a stray Meltdowner shot that had been a bit too powerful and punched through everything.

"Tell me, Saiai. Do you think they were enemies in disguise too?" She asked, pointing at the charred corpses within the destroyed shop. A silence echoed between them, not a single word spoken as Frenda continued to stare at the innocent people dead because of ITEM and SCHOOL's feud.

"What the fuck are you two doing? Move your asses!" Frenda jumped, hearing Saiai jump behind her as Mugino rounded the corner of the SCHOOL base, glaring at them. "We're leaving, get your ass in gear." Mugino shouted at them angrily.

Neither responded immediately, watching as Mugino turned, pausing as her gaze fell on the shop destroyed by her own Meltdowner beam. She looked at the corpses, and stared for a second, her eyes cold and empty.

Before a brief flash of sadistic glee crossed her expression.

Frenda's blood ran cold, her heart pounding in terror as she stared at Mugino, unable to will herself to move her legs. She glanced over her shoulder at Saiai, who met her gaze carefully. The normally stoic Saiai's mask had cracked, and Frenda could see the sprouting seed of fear in her eyes. Saiai finally understood what had been bothering Frenda for so long. What had been lurking beneath the surface of their leader.

They both watched the head of ITEM warily as she walked away whistling a jaunty tune. Whistling! What the fuck. But maybe it was for the best that she didn't even spare them a second glance. As the pair were left alone, their eyes met again. Saiai broke the unsettling silence.

"Go. I'm going to go make sure Rikou's alright, she collapsed from overuse of her powers again. Go before Mugino remembers to ask you for an update on your mission." She said quietly, walking past Frenda. "You owe me one." She said softly before she vanished around the corner.

Frenda didn't need to be told twice before she turned and fled from this scene of horror as fast as she could, wanting to escape the memories it had given her.

"What the fuck has my life become?" Frenda could only say to herself as she fled toward the only place she felt even remotely at peace.

* * *

"Hey, Satennnnah shit, sorry!"

Ruiko woke with an alarmed start as she heard Mikoto cursing about something, sitting up quickly and trying to get her bearings, blinking rapidly to clear her vision and get ready for... huh? Why was… Why was Mikoto blushing so fiercely? Wait, she was dressed right-?!

Looking down at herself, she saw that she was indeed dressed in the same oversized shirt and pajama pants as last night.

However, Frenda was not, the much smaller girl curled up against her asleep, the blanket barely covering her. Well, nothing for it then. She drew a lazy, wolfish grin.

"Good morning! Like what you see, Mi. Ko. To~?'

"N-No! Sorry, I didn't- I mean, the others are just… we were gonna have that talk..." Mikoto said, looking away from them with a searing red face before closing the door behind her. OK, sobering as fuck subject, but that was kind of cute, Ruiko couldn't lie. Horribly embarrassing, but it was a 10/10 reaction. The more pressing question, though, was when Frenda had joined her in bed.

"Hey… Frenda." Ruiko shook the girl until she stirred, blinking as she unburied her face from Ruiko's side. As she looked up at her with tired eyes, Ruiko noticed they were slightly puffy- had she been crying?

"You OK?" She asked softly, reaching out to caress her cheek. Frenda withdrew, pushing herself up, and shook her head.

"Fine… I don't wanna talk about it." Frenda said, swinging her legs off the bed and getting up. "Sorry."

Ruiko didn't get another word out before Frenda had made her way to the bathroom, the shower turning on. Ruiko sighed herself as she got out of the bed, following after her. Hopefully, parboiling under Frenda's preferred temperature would help get her head in the game for the coming conversation.

It wasn't going to be an easy one.

* * *

After a very subdued wake-up routine with Frenda, both of them padded their way downward, following the sounds of quiet conversation in the Eastern Sitting Room. Ruiko had taken the time to explain what had happened last night, Frenda absorbing it with uncharacteristic silence. As the pair entered, the other four girls were all around the kotatsu. Might as well be comfortable if they were going to have a heavy talk, I guess.

Ruiko grabbed Frenda's hand and pulled her toward the kotatsu, sitting down at one edge of the table, Frenda joining her with no small amount of hesitation.

"So…" Ruiko spoke up, looking at the others, feeling the palpable awkwardness as the girls exchanged uneasy glances, no one knowing how to start. As the unintentional catalyst for it happening at all,Ruiko felt compelled to try to guide the conversation. And yes,

she was moderately terrified that at any moment they might break out into a loud argument again, too. She opened her mouth, then shut it. Opened it again, and then shut it again. This was so much harder than she was expecting. Their attention was fully focused on her fumbling failures by that point. Feeling pressured, she opened her mouth again, but the words that were spoken came not from her.

"How far are you willing to go for each other?"

Ruiko glanced with some surprise over at Frenda, her words having fallen out in a kind of subdued way. The rest were also looking at her, equally surprised.

"How far are you willing to go for each other?" Frenda asked again, seemingly unaware of the eyes on her as she attempted to stare a hole in the distant table. "Really, that's what it comes down to. 'What are we going to do?' That's the question you keep asking yourselves. But what you really need to know is what your limits are. What would you do?" She continued talking, Ruiko catching on to the small amount of sadness in Frenda's voice.

"What would any of you be willing to do to make sure your lover is alive and safe? What laws would you break? What lines would you cross? Would you be willing to fight? To injure? To maim? To destroy? To burn society to the ground and trample its ashes? Would you be willing to become someone else's villains to be the hero of your friends' stories?" She asked, responding quickly as Mikoto opened her mouth to say something, likely unpleasant based on her expression. Mikoto's mouth snapped shut.

"Would you be willing to kill?" Frenda asked softly, quietly, as she looked at Mikoto, causing yet another deafening silence to fill the room.

A minute crawled on before Frenda stood up from the table. "That's all I really have to contribute. I'm going to go… go say hello to Maika." She said, timidly darting away with that weak excuse before Ruiko could grab her. The kitchen door swung shut as she departed through it, Ruiko glared at it with a forlorn feeling of helplessness. She glanced to Misaki who had likewise been watching Frenda walk away. The look in Misaki's eyes… Ruiko needed to remember to ask her about it. It was like… concern. And pity.

Turning her gaze back to the others at the table, they all wore thoughtful expressions. Frenda had surprised her with that nugget of insight, but now she felt at a loss again.

"So… I mean, that was a little… do you guys have any thoughts?" She asked, feeling like a lame mediator. After a moment of quiet, Misaki spoke up.

"Would you all like to know the answer to her question?" Mental-Out asked, her starry eyes looking at them. "To know what each of you is thinking, but not saying?"

"Stay out of our heads, Misaki!" Mikoto hissed, even if she was the only one with nothing to fear. Kuroko, Ruiko, and Uiharu looked at them anxiously, though only Ruiko and Kuroko showed signs of distress that Misaki might be sifting through their heads.

"I am. I don't need my powers to read the room, though they'd certainly help." Misaki said, glancing away from Mikoto in a rare show of self-perceived weakness. "Would they look at me differently if I answered honestly? That worry is written all over your faces." Misaki glanced up at each of them, watching the discomfort grow on their faces, even Mikoto's, whose rage subsided as she sank back into her seat.

"That's…" Ruiko began, but trailed off with nothing else to say.

"It's probably on mine, too. When she asked, I thought about whether I'd ever kill for Haru-chan. I began to think up every reason I would never have to- my powers allow me defuse most situations without violence. It'd never come up, it's an irrelevant question, and… then I realized." Misaki sighed, dragging a gloved finger around the surface of the table.

"That I was ultimately making excuses to not answer the question. Even in my own head, in the privacy of my own thoughts, I was making excuses so I didn't have to face the honest answer." Misaki glanced up at them, though turning her head slightly to not look at Uiharu, a hint of distress on the Level 5's face.

"...Is that, given no other choice but to actually… to actually take someone's life to protect my Haru-chan…" She sighed quietly, tensing.

"I would."

Her answer was so soft and quiet, refusing to meet anyone else's eyes as she said it. It wasn't long before she felt another body press against hers, Uiharu hugging her snugly from behind, saying nothing. The minutes crawled on before Kuroko spoke up.

Kuroko began by tapping her metal knuckles against the tabletop, attracting the rapt attention of the others. "I should think my own resolve is quite apparent already. And more than that…" Kuroko's voice lowered into a dangerous growl. "That BASTARD poisoned my dearest and tried to kill us."

Ruiko nodded slowly in agreement, jaw tense. She looked up at the others, her eyes meeting Mikoto's. The girl just nodded softly in response, leaning over and pressing herself against Kuroko.

Ruiko stood up from the seat, striding over to the kitchen door and tossing it open, the other girls watching curiously at her sudden movement before she returned, pulling a shaken looking Frenda out by the hand, forcibly sitting back down with her. Not a word was spoken.

"No more waiting around. We're in this together." Ruiko sat up straight, her expression shifting into one of stubbornnesses that was becoming quite commonplace. "We all know what we need to do, and we're in this together. We found a ton at that facility, got past that weird golem-thing, got a load of information. We have stuff to go on!" Ruiko looked to Misaki and Uiharu, letting her excitement get more and more amped up. "Right!?"

Misaki showed actual surprise at her sudden burst of energy before smiling and nodding. "That we do."

"Alright, what do we have?" Mikoto leaned forward, addressing Misaki amiably for once. The look in her eyes, the all-business laser-focus gaze with a subtle touch of madness, bore into them all. There was the girl who could rampage through the city and methodically disassemble a psychotic conspiracy on her own.

"W-well, here." Uiharu plugged her mobile into a hidden cradle built into the table that everyone save Misaki seemed surprised was even there, a holographic screen popping up from the center of the table, a tiny block at the center suddenly becoming transparent to reveal the projector.

"When did you… Was this always?" Kuroko blinked at the table, then at Misaki, who gave her a kind of nonchalant expression.

"Don't you have a holographic projector built into your kotatsu?" Misaki asked this with such casual deadpan, it was clear no one in the room was certain if she was joking or not.

"Of course, how silly of me to forget. Anyway." Kuroko broke the silence and decided to instead focus on the task at hand, eyes moving to the screen in front of her and Mikoto. "Uiharu, what am I looking at here?" Kuroko's tone was all Judgement. Back straight, eyes focused. Ruiko watched Misaki look at the pair, the blonde clearing her throat to gain the attention of all present, with perhaps just a hint of uncomfortable awkwardness on her part.

"If you all wouldn't object, I may have a suggestion or two..."


	31. Chapter 31 - The Moon, Upright

The young man weakly crawled on the ground, struggling in vain to push himself off the hard, cold concrete of the warehouse floor, burns and cuts on his body sapping his strength. A cool breeze wafted through the building from a large hole in the roof, the impromptu entry point created when he was forcibly thrown through it. The steady clack of expensive dress shoes echoed behind him, and he knew he needed to stand before they reached him. His focus was interrupted as a pair of dainty feet wrapped in an extremely form fitting thin black material blocked his view.

Weakly looking up, he saw a blank silver mask staring down at him. The faceless woman reached down haltingly to gently touch one of his open wounds. He winced when her fingers dug in further, but didn't have the energy left to muster more than a grunt at just a little more pain on top of everything. She spoke, then, her words garbled behind a modulator, gravelly and rough, each syllable seeming to come only after great struggle.

"Red… wrong… way."

* * *

"It's time." Misaki's voice echoed over the comm earpiece to the others as she stepped up behind Kazari's chair. Kazari, for her part, had already busied herself tapping furiously away at the pile of workstations and displays that now dominated a whole wall of their bedroom, her face revealed in the diode-glow of her command station as much as the ambient moonlight streaming though the wall of windows at her left. She was in her element.

"Just to review. We've got two objectives," she stated firmly, not stopping to cut off any interruptions. "Misaka-san; Shirai-san. You two are going to investigate the status of a facility listed in that data haul. Based on the shipping manifests, mechanical parts and materials used for cloning were transported there in large amounts. We don't want to see a repeat of the Level Six Shift Project."

"Right," Mikoto's low growl shot back, not even fighting Misaki, so focused on accomplishing just that task to give any backsass.

"We'll get it done, not to worry." Whether Shirai was addressing Misaki or Mikoto with that reassurance was hard to say.

"Right," Misaki said stiffly, looking down at Kazari with barely hidden anxiety. "Frenda-san; Saten-san. Going through those earlier hard drives found us some suspicious mentions of a particularly irritating Board Member. If Indigo has the backing of the Board of Directors, even if just one of the sitting members, that'll make this all a lot more complicated. The address I sent you to is a villa that hasn't been used in a few years now. The man in question has hundreds of properties, so we expect security to be light. Just get in, snoop around, plant the wireless hacking device for Kazari, and get out. Nothing fancy."

"It'll be a breeze." Ruiko's confident voice replied, followed by a "Yeah, yeah, for the 4th time." from the blonde bomber.

Rolling her eyes a little, she pulled out her holographic-projecting phone, tapping a button on the screen as a timer began to run.

"Go."

* * *

Frenda and Ruiko stood up from their hiding spot on a small hill, concealed behind a small copse of trees. District 21. A mountainous region of Academy City with primarily dams and space observatories, with some parks here and there.

And a rather large, very luxurious mansion tucked away in an easily missed nook, most of the area concealed by trees. The long, winding driveway that led into the woods where the mansion lay hidden was easily missed even if one happened to drive down the oft-unused street it was connected to.

"Alright, so, this Board member… Yamamoto Akira. His name popped up over and over in the finance records Queenie's cute button of a girlfriend found." Frenda said. Ruiko shot her an odd look, so she winked back.

"Right, and we've watched the place for hours. No one has come or gone," Ruiko threw in, looking through some binoculars again. "I haven't seen any security, either."

"Well, only one way to get to the bottom of this." Frenda mused, patting Ruiko's shoulder. "Let's go." Ruiko lowered the binoculars with a nod, getting up and following after Frenda as the blonde led the way.

Working their way down to the street, both the girls dressed in black to better conceal themselves in the darkness of the night, they moved up to the sideroad from the unlit street. Ducking underneath a gate meant to block cars rather than people, Frenda pointed at a small square shape device that was sticking out of the ground near them.

"Motion sensor. That should be on, but it's not." Frenda scowled as they advanced down the road. In fact, every security measure she saw was the same way: off or broken. She pointed them out to Ruiko for future reference, but the place was clearly long abandoned.

Arriving at the mansion, it was unsurprisingly a large and opulent estate, covered in burnished bronze and detailed decor. Frenda rolled her eyes as they approached.

"Typical," she muttered. "Plants haven't encroached yet, though. A few years, maybe?"

Circling the perimeter of the property in search of a way in, and only briefly given a heart attack by a motion light turning on, they eventually settled on a second-story window reachable by an adjacent climbable tree. For all its high-tech security, the building itself was old school, with physical latches and... she chuckled. "Seriously? Is this actual silica glass? I've been waiting ages to try this!" A quick flex of her power had an antique glass cutter in her hands. It was a bit fiddly, but soon enough, both girls were sliding into a hallway.

"Ugh, what is that smell? So musty." Ruiko put her hand up to her mouth and nose, looking at Frenda, who seemed perturbed.

"Well, no one has been here in awhile, that's for sure." She said after a few moments of thought, creeping forward and starting her search, Ruiko not far behind.

Room by room, they emptied the second floor of places to search until they reached the final door of what definitely was the master bedroom- and was locked.

"Should I kick it down?" Ruiko asked to Frenda, who shook her head.

"No, let's see if we can find a key first. It might be trapped against forced entry. This asshole apparently had a hard-on for randomly mixing old school shit and advanced tech." She sighed, moving back toward a staircase they'd found earlier in their search.

Heading downward, Ruiko floated over to the front door where the stairway deposited them, grabbing at a tablet plugged in to the wall.

"Huh, power's still on. This thing was kept charged." Ruiko began going through the tablet as Frenda briefly gave her a pat and a gesture with her head to tell her she was going to keep looking around.

Browsing through the tablet, it appeared to be some kind of day planner. Expected guests, who should be coming and going. The last entry was marked… almost six years ago. She furrowed her brow at the final entry.

"Vivmu-? Veevmmbuh?" Ruiko tried to read it aloud before Misaki chimed in at last.

"Spell it to us."

"Vivmb. All caps, if that matters?" She backed out of the planner app and found the one for the house security system. After swiping away a dense flurry of malfunction warnings she nodded that it was all coming up disabled or faulted and set the device back in its cradle.

"Ruiko. We've a problem." Frenda called out to her, Ruiko turning and quickly making her way toward the sound of Frenda's voice. She found Frenda at a threshold of an archway, looking into the adjoining room.

"What's up?"

"I found what reeks." She said quickly, pointing. Ruiko turned to follow the gesture and instantly regretted it, barely holding down her gorge as the smell hit her like a wave. In a large and fancy sitting room, she saw it.

Sprawled out on the floor, reeking of death, was a splayed corpse in a bloodstained suit. Though the body was dessicated to the point of resembling a mummy, the cause of death was almost certainly the ominously huge knife buried deep in his spine.

"Hello? Describe what you're seeing." Misaki said with a testy tone as they suddenly went silent in shock at the discovery.

"A dead body." Ruiko replied as Frenda pulled her hat off and held its hidden filter against her nose and mouth, approaching the corpse to carefully rifle through its pockets.

"...What?" Misaki said quietly, her tone so clear that Ruiko could practically hear her blinking over the comm. "Whose-?" She began to say, Frenda chiming in as she pulled out a wallet and an ID within.

"Yamamoto Akira." Frenda said quietly.

A pregnant pause filled the air as all present absorbed this new information.

"Hard to say how long he's been dead, though. This ID expired two years ago, but he should be a skeleton, not... whatever this is. Dried out, somehow." Frenda chimed in as she resumed her search.

"But that isn't possible, he's still an active board member, he's made public appearances." Misaki added, her brain going a mile a minute based on her tone. Ruiko glanced down the hall from the way she came.

"Maybe that weird word I found is related? The one I saw in the house day planner guestbook visitor log thing? That entry was a few years back, too," She proposed, still not entering the sitting room for fear of breathing near the corpse. Frenda walked up, holding an old-fashioned key in her hands that she'd just pulled from the body's pocket.

"Well, let's see what we can find in his bedroom."

* * *

Misaki rubbed the bridge of her nose as she processed this new information. Ruiko and Frenda were still on-site. Hopefully they would find something to provide more answers than questions for once. She set the thought aside to check in on Mikoto and Kuroko, leaning forward next to Uiharu who was rapidly typing away as she researched every bit of new data she received.

"How is Team B doing? Take your time, there's no need to rush and risk getting caugh-" Misaki began before Mikoto cut in.

"Oh please, we're already in and going through their computers. Have a little faith. And why are we Team B?"

* * *

Mikoto leaned into her crutch as Kuroko tapped away at a computer, her hand to her ear as she spoke to Misaki. The pair were standing in a large warehouse, the facility clearly in the process of getting its equipment delivered, and not much having been unpacked from their crates yet.

"What? You weren't supposed to go in, just check the status. Did you encounter any resistance?" Misaki's tone was controlled, doing her best to not sound irritated. Not starting a fight was ideal, and Mikoto was attempting to do the same.

"Eh…" Mikoto looked over her shoulder at the five smoking heaps of destroyed metal that were formerly five walker tanks armed with exceptionally deadly looking weapons, now twisted into uselessness by magnetism, their hulls blasted, sliced, or ripped apart. Tiny fires crackled within the hulking wrecks of the death machines.

"Nothing worth mentioning," Mikoto said cavalierly as she turned back to Kuroko who had put into practice a few tricks she'd learned from Uiharu and bypassed the facility's security.

"Same goes for this, the servers here are basically empty. Just a lot of names for what the servers are supposed to deal with. Parameter List, LU-02, MB Projections, Third Season Project… Any of these sound familiar?" Kuroko asked.

"No, they don't. However, we will add that to our list of investigations." Misaki said with a sigh. "More questions than answers from your end too, it seems... Mikoto, can you fry all the equipment in that warehouse?"

"With pleasure," Mikoto chimed in with some of her old characteristic confidence, Kuroko looking over at Mikoto with a slightly nostalgic smile.

"What?" Mikoto asked Kuroko, the girl merely replying with an innocent smile and shrug.

"Then if you please, we might as well deprive him of his hardware."

She nodded to Kuroko and her easy smirk widened to a broad smile they casually sauntered toward the exit. She flexed her command of electromagnetism and streamers of plasma arced and raced across every surface of the space behind them. Once they cleared the front gate, she wheeled around and raised a hand. Her grin turned feral.

"Aaaand zap!" She snapped her fingers as she let it all out like a wound up spring, finally allowing nature to take its course and releasing the stored charge in a single massive EMP.

Better than retail therapy.

* * *

"Hello?" Misaki said as Mikoto and Kuroko's feed cut out in a short bark of static and the indicators on Uiharu's monitors went offline. .

"The EMP probably knocked out their comms. I have failsafes built in, so they should come back up in a minute or two," Uiharu provided, smiling up at Misaki in a comforting manner. "Hey, don't worry about them. They're strong. It'll be fine." She reached out and took Misaki's hand, squeezing it reassuringly. A silent moment hung in the air between the two before Misaki breathed deep and exhaled her anxiety.

"Right." She nodded. "Team A, what is your status?" She frowned at the silence. "Team A? Frenda? Ruiko?" It took another few seconds before their reply came.

"Okay, what the FUCK did we just watch?"

* * *

Frenda's blunt words came as Ruiko and her stared at the computer monitor, on which security footage was found. The video in front of them played out again as Ruiko wound it back, almost in disbelief.

On the screen, the clearly-still-living Yamamoto greeted a guest that had been brought into the sitting room by a maid. A painfully familiar, snake-faced guest.

"Thank you for coming, it's not often I get the chance to meet someone as esteemed as yourself. I daresay your picture doesn't do you justice- it must be severely outdated, A-"

"Please," he cut in before the Board member could finish, "I prefer Indigo. It's a pleasure to meet you." The snake smiled as charmingly as he could, and to the shock of both girls, he put forward a remarkably amiable air, politeness seeping from his words. It was unnerving how utterly convincing it was.

"Of course, of course." Yamamoto replied politely, turning to approach his wet bar. "Could I get you a drink?" He asked, blithely unaware of the mistake he'd made by exposing his back to the monster in his presence.

"Oh yes, that would be lovely. I AM feeling rather… parched," Indigo said softly as he slithered up to the man from behind, pulled a knife out from his coat and, without even a moment's hesitation, plunged it into the back of his host.

Even on a second viewing, it was a distinctly uncomfortable experience to watch as Yamamoto desperately crawled along the floor after collapsing in a dying heap, instinctively trying to escape from the sudden and shocking pain in his back. Indigo merely watched, slowly following until he went limp in the same position the girls had found him in.

"Thank you, sir." Indigo said, his voice changing as he spoke, and his form shifting as light seemed to shine and bend around him- taking on the form and voice of the man he'd just murdered as the corpse shrivelled like a time-lapse video of an embalming. "I was quite thirsty indeed."

Frenda jabbed the pause button. "But no, what the FUCK is he? These powers are so fucking weird!" Frenda ranted, even as Ruiko did her best to calmly explain what they'd just seen.

"...And then he… he turned into him. It was like… like some kind of ancient optical illusion. The kind with the mirrors?" Ruiko said, biting her lip in uncertainty. They stood there awkwardly, still staring at the image frozen on the screen.

"What happened to all the staff that was here?" Ruiko finally wondered aloud. Frenda winced.

"If it involves that freak, I'm not sure I want to know."

* * *

Misaki heard them talking. Frenda and Ruiko were talking. But whatever they said didn't register, didn't MATTER in the face of the terrible truth they had uncovered.

"Indigo is sitting on the Board," she said in a horrified whisper. The others didn't understand. Even Mikoto didn't fully appreciate just how bad the situation had just become. Suddenly, so many strange inconsistencies and minor mysteries made sense. As a Board Member, someone who could tap Academy City's own assets almost unchecked, his available resources were staggering. Covering up his own misdeeds became laughably easy. He could manipulate Anti-Skill to some degree, use the city's intelligence network… but it also raised some serious questions. Most saliently: why? What was his goal? Why did he orchestrate Treefall when the net result seemed to only hamper anything anyone might want to do in a city cut off from the outside world?

"Viv… Viv M.B… No relevant substring matches... permu- no, no, he wouldn't have done that in his own home..." Uiharu muttered next to her, prompting Misaki to look at the smaller girl."'MB' could be dozens of things but it's probably separate, so what if it's... three parts? Roman!?" She didn't need to be a mind reader to see that Kazari had just had a moment of sudden realization. In a blur of movement, she was typing away, Misaki unable to even keep up with what she was doing.

"What're you…?" She asked before a screen came up. Misaki stared at it, furrowing her brow. "Is that…?" She stared at the profile in front of her that had just been pulled up.

"...I think… I think I found him," Uiharu whispered in a daze.

"No… No, this can't be right, if he's…" Misaki shook her head as she stared. "The picture isn't right-" She paused as she remembered some of Yamamoto's last words that Ruiko had told her: His official photo was severely outdated. But it couldn't, certainly not…

"Misaki… look at that kanji." She pointed at her screen, Misaki's eyes widening in increasing horror.

"Oh god…" She whispered, the emotions beating in her chest barely contained. She unconciously grabbed Kazari's hand in a comforting gesture, when she realized it was violently shaking. She turned to look at her lover, and saw her expression. Kazari wasn't looking at the screen, her eyes wide and tears forming around them as a look of pure terror was echoed by the impression she received over their link.

Misaki's head slowly turned to follow her gaze, out the window and up.

"...No…" Misaki whimpered at the sight as despair threatened to swallow her.

There, standing at the edge of the opposing building, staring down at them from the ledge with a wicked, sadistic smile, was Indigo.

And in his hand, held aloft by the neck, in a gesture of dark and vile triumph, was the blood drenched, burned, and limp body of Sogiita Gunha.

The tableau was broken as suddenly as it began by masked figure with silver hair leaping from seemingly nowhere at the window.

With a crash of glass and panicked screams.


	32. Chapter 32 - The Tower, Upright

Terribly sorry for the wait, I hope you enjoy this roughly 6400 word chapter!

* * *

"Yeah, I definitely fried it," Mikoto lamented as she looked at her earpiece, Kuroko shaking her own as if that might get it to work.

"Uiharu built a lot of protection into these, too. I can't believe your pulse was strong enough to break them anyway." Kuroko marveled as she gave Mikoto a bit of a grin. Mikoto scratched her head, chuckling a little.

"I haven't really talked about it, but since I woke up, every test we've done to measure my power I can hold steady around 16 terawatts? I kinda burned out the lab's equipment when we tried to check my peak output and they still haven't built the new test harness, but it was edging up past 100 before the magic smoke escaped and I felt like I still had a good bit in me. Not a bit of fine control at that point, though." She chuckled again, still scratching her head. Kuroko blinked at her in shock.

"...Mikoto, that's an entire order of magnitude improvement." She was clearly disappointed she hadn't been told before.

"Y-yeah… uh, sorry, it just never came up in conversation." Mikoto shrugged with a sheepish smile. Kuroko was radiating waves of mild annoyance but it wasn't THAT big a deal, right? Sure, she should have guessed Kuroko would know the details of her powers by heart - she'd always been endlessly interested in her, after all - but she didn't expect to be kept abreast of every little... She felt the familiar prick of guilt in her chest. She'd never BOTHERED to interrogate Kuroko at length, never got so invested in independent research, simply never helped more than offer platitudes in the past. She opened her mouth to try to express any of that when a 1980s glam rock song started playing from Kuroko's pocket.

Pulling out her phone, Kuroko opened the holographic display, which showed the words "Shokuhou Misaki" under a picture of Freddie Mercury.

"Guess they figured out the earbuds are busted. Good thing I stashed this with our stuff outside or it'd be fried like the rest." Kuroko mused before answering it and putting it on speaker.

"Sorry, the radios are to-"

"Hello, girls."

Both froze as their blood ran cold at the most definitely male voice on the other end of the line, the words spoken with a deep, drawn out tone dripping with smug satisfaction. Mikoto looked askance at Kuroko, not recognizing the voice, but knowing that it shouldn't be coming from Misaki's phone number.

"Indigo." Kuroko hissed, confirming all of Mikoto's worst fears. "What have you done to them?" The cold, seething rage that dripped on every word was chilling.

"Tut, tut… such a rude way to address your betters, not even an honorific. What would your parents say? Ah, but I'm feeling generous so I'll forgive your transgression. Your little friends are alive, and in one piece. You'll even see them again when you meet us in District 19 in three hours. I will text you the address. Of course, if you don't show, I start cutting pieces off, starting with the small one. I'm sure you'd hate to find little Uiharu without her eyes. And I don't think it needs to be said, but you will come alone or you will have nightmares for the rest of your life when you see what I do to them." A click ended the call before either could properly respond, Mikoto midway through screaming "Monster!" at him.

Silence echoed between them before they met each other's eyes. Mikoto knew full well that the fear in Kuroko's eyes was mirrored in her own.

* * *

Bubbles rose past the silvery hair of the sole resident of the liquid-filled container. Floating upside down within his personally forged prison, he hummed at the cards he had drawn and turned his attention to the live video feeds that circulated around him.

The Tower had made his move, and Strength had been devastated. His eyes flicked to the other cards that hung freely in the air, narrowing his gaze.

"Curious. How dramatically overt of him… has he reached the limit of his patience or is he truly confident of his success? Even with so many other cards pulled into his scheme…" His eyes drifted to each in turn. The Hermit, The Empress, Temperance, Strength, Judgement, The Sun, The Devil, and even…

His smile raised slightly. It was pleasing to see, though as he narrowed down the possibilities, he felt a pang of disappointment. Perhaps young Shirai was not as important as he had thought… no card seemed to correspond to her. Still, it would be interesting to watch. He'd be ready in case the need for intervention arose.

So many cards, so many possibilities.

"Now, how will this game end?"

* * *

Misaki groaned as awareness flooded back to her. Her head was pounding in agony. What happened? She recalled losing contact with Mikoto and Kuroko, then...

Her eyes shot open as the situation came crashing down once more. As she remembered Indigo. She tried to move and discovered she couldn't, her arms and legs bound tightly against something. Her head was unrestrained, however, and looking down revealed that she'd been strapped tightly against a large metal podium with some manner of oversized elastic sleeve. It pressed so hard into her that it was difficult to breathe. A quick glance around the room told her that she must have been in a school, inside a classroom that had not been used in some time. Desks were stacked in the corners and flipped over in haphazard piles, likely by trespassing Skillout and other hooligans. Beer cans and burnt out cigarettes littered the ground. And it was all covered in a thick layer of dust.

Almost.

The only clean part of the room also served to highlight a much more pressing concern: a single desk set up neatly in the middle of the room. On that desk was an old-fashioned digital clock counting down, attached to what Misaki could only describe as a stereotypical Hollywood movie bomb. It would be comical were she not absolutely sure it was every bit as deadly as its special effects cousins pretended to be.

Staring at it with wide eyes, she observed the clock blandly as it beeped to inform her that she had three hours and thirty two minutes to live.

She panicked, racing heartbeat pounding in her ears as she struggled with all her might against her restraints. Rationally, she knew that would never work. She knew, but if she didn't try, she'd die. She'd die and never see Kazari again!

At that thought, she froze. She closed her eyes, focusing on breathing and getting her pulse under control and mentally boxing up the fact that she'd lost twelve minutes to her unsightly lapse in decorum.

Kazari.

Yes, she needed to find Kazari. Keeping her eyes closed, she focused inward and boxed up the rest of her distracting thoughts. Indigo may have taken her remotes, but he evidently didn't know the full extent of her powers or the nuance where currently active effects would persist even through unconsciousness. Once she had found her center, she allowed herself to fall into the most important one of those. The Memory Palace. She'd named it after the old technique, but for her it was far more literal.

She eased herself gently through the thin barrier between her mind and Kazari's, following the active connection she had created so long ago. Pushing away awareness of her surroundings, she delved more deeply, picturing herself walking into the literal psychically created palace that lay within Kazari's mind.

* * *

Misaki found herself standing in front of a lavishly-appointed mansion, an enormous garden stretching over the horizon in all directions around it. The building itself was constructed out of black and yellow diamonds, layers of granite and marble filling out that which the diamonds did not. Kazari was so humble that it had originally been a modest little bungalow - charming in its own way and not unexpected, but nowhere near good enough for how amazing her little flower was. So Misaki had taken the initiative to... redecorate a touch. Even if it was a psychic space lacking physicality.

The usual perpetual twilight of the mansion was now covered in a moonless night. This invariably meant one of two things: Kazari was asleep or unconscious. The continued existence of the mental realm meant she was still alive. They still had hope. They were going to make it out. Misaki felt relief flow through her as she strode into the palace, flourishing her hands as she covered herself in a Greco-Roman style white chiton, a deep red silk palla flowing over her left shoulder before snaking back around to hook over the same shoulder once more, gold and silver jewelry appearing on her ankles, wrists, and arms along with her trademark white gloves.

From the garden to the foyer and up the stairs through the hallways, she strode past the rows and rows of black diamond statues and armored suits that stood vigil in the halls. No mere decorations, the sentinels that represented the numerous psychic mental barriers layered over both of them remained undisturbed. Any telepath making an ill-advised bid at entry to either of their minds would quickly find themselves having an exceptionally poor day, but it hadn't happened this time.

Marching room by room, she made haste along the intimately familiar route, reaching her target with little effort. Splayed out on a pile of pillows in a luxurious bedroom was her beloved Kazari. Unmoving and quiet, one would be forgiven for thinking she was merely sleeping soundly.

Gliding up to her, Misaki crouched down and brushed some hair out of her beloved's face. Lightly touching her forehead, she pressed deeper into Kazari's mind, but quickly found it sluggish, dark, and heavy. As she had suspected, some kind of extremely strong sedative. Reaching beyond her surface thoughts, she dug into the autonomic nervous system that controlled bodily functions, concentrating on those minute processes.

"Haru-chan, my sweet, please wake up… I know it's hard, but you need to wake up." She whispered to her as she stroked the girls forehead. Kazari stirred beneath her, the drug in her system starting to get rapidly burned out by Misaki's command to accelerate her metabolism. It wasn't very healthy, but the need was dire.

"Mi...saki...sam…" The sleeping girl slurred her words out as her eyes tried to open, struggling as if enormous weights held them down.

It was all Misaki needed, however. She looked through Kazari's eyes, to see what she could see.

Mostly darkness as her heavy lids struggled to open, but in the slivers of sight Misaki could see grass and concrete… and seats, athletic benches. The most concerning part was just how far away those things were… from how high up Kazari was.

"Damn it, she must be at least three stories off the ground… what did he tie her to?" Misaki hissed, deciding to change tactics. If her math was right, and it rarely wasn't, then her contingency plans would be going into effect with her own people coming to find her. The approximate time they'd show up was about three and a half hours hence. Based on what she now understood of that monster's powers, it made perfect sense. She needed to disrupt that, take advantage of something he hadn't considered… Mistakes he'd made that she could exploit.

Unfortunately, she couldn't risk Kazari fully waking up and accidentally loosening her bindings. A fall from that height was almost certainly fatal.

"My love… I need you to focus all of your thoughts on one subject, okay?" she stroked the stirring Kazari on the head.

"Just focus…" She whispered quietly as she leaned down, "Focus."

"I just need you to focus on…"

* * *

The empty train sped along in silence at first, Kuroko and Mikoto keeping their own counsel as worry gnawed at them.

"So what's the plan, here?" Mikoto finally asked. Kuroko hummed in thought, fiddling absentmindedly with the long black gloves that ran up her arm to just a little bit past her prosthesis.

"Indigo typically relies on an increasingly unlikely series of events playing out exactly the way he wants them-"

"My god!" Mikoto gesticulated urgently out the window of their carriage and Kuroko whipped her head around, ready to fight. It would be just like him to add train robbery to his list of crimes. But when she saw what provoked the reaction she could only huff in frustration

"Yes," she ground out, "EXACTLY like that." She studied the uncontrolled inferno consuming the front of the mansion they'd lived in for the last several months thoughtfully as a swarm of fire fighters struggled to beat back the blaze. "That house had sprinklers, you know. Mechanically-actuated backups, emergency power, networked smoke detectors with autosignaling for emergency services, a canister bot with a fire extinguisher in every closet, and flame-retardant insulation. And that's all just what I remember from Misaki's spiel when she was trying to convince me that we should move in with her."

"Huh, so that's what all those extra EM sources were."

"Quite. And yet, not a single one appears to have worked. Imagine that." Mikoto tore her eyes away from the conflagration to listen more closely to Kuroko, who hummed in annoyance. "What do you suppose, my dear, are the odds our train on the direct path to his location would also happen to pass our current abode before the fire has been brought to heel? The fire that just 'coincidentally' started and spread uncontrollably after he did THAT." The train had rounded a long gentle bend that brought the west side of the house into view. Her pointed growl serving to redirect Mikoto's attention to how most of the wall had been blown out. "Goodness, what an unpleasant view this is. I daresay he's sending us a message."

"Except with you." Mikoto said at last. Kuroko turned back to study her in profile as she stared out the window.

"Beg your pardon?"

"He's taken direct action when it involves you. Whatever power he has, you somehow mess with it. Maybe his foresight has some kind of hole in it? I don't know." Mikoto shrugged helplessly. And unfortunately, Kuroko was equally at a loss for exactly what it was about her that interfered with Indigo.

"It can't be my powers, they're no longer functioning." Kuroko sniffed, scowling more. "It doesn't matter, that's not a mystery we have time to solve now. I say… this is what we should do." Kuroko leaned over and began to whisper the beginnings of a plan into Mikoto's ear.

The train rumbled onward as they prepared for their showdown.

* * *

After they arrived at the gate to the abandoned school grounds to which they'd been summoned, it didn't take long to find Indigo. In fact, it was almost painfully obvious that he'd be smack in the middle of the only place with lights still operating. Mikoto stepped onto the brightly illuminated sports field and finally saw the man who had ruined her and her friends lives so often for the first time. At least… she thought it was the first time. Seeing him filled her with a strange sense of deja vu.

Indigo had one of the smuggest most punchable faces she'd ever seen. A serpentine smirk spread across his face as she approached. It was worse than Mugino and Accelerator combined.

No, he didn't look familiar - she was sure she'd remember someone so unsettlingly distinct - but some small part of her was certain they'd met far more often than just this once. She silenced that voice. There was no time to dwell on it. Not when she was too busy nursing her SEETHING RAGE.

"You were almost late. I'd hate to have had to start cutting her up." He gestured lazily off to the side of the field. Undeterred, Mikoto's piercing gaze bored into him. She didn't need to be reminded that he'd run Uiharu up a flagpole when that's why she was having trouble holding herself back from slagging the surrounding area in the first place!

"You are a sick fucking monster." Mikoto hissed at him through clenched teeth. Feeling her balance already going off, she flicked her arm, the brand new bracer she'd designed giving a quiet click as a long metal crutch emerged from it, a handle popping out of the long pole as it fully extended and into her hand. Even if it did make her look weaker in her mind, it was necessary. Indigo's disgusting smirk widened as if appreciating her suffering.

"Oh, my dear, aren't we all?" He asked, taking a step forward. The distance between them was roughly fifteen yards, Mikoto not wanting to get too close.

"No, we really aren't. You're a unique brand of repulsive." She replied snidely, her fists clenching. She just needed to focus, keep his eyes on her. "Why did you call me out here?"

"Oh Mikoto-chan… I didn't call YOU out here. I called you BOTH out here." He said cavalierly, before pointing over his shoulder with a gloved thumb. FUCK.

Kuroko heard his words as she had been in the process of creeping up behind him and, knowing her cover was blown, she leapt at him, an outstretched hand aiming for the back of his head. She didn't even make it half-way before the ground itself warped and bent like a funhouse mirror was reflecting it, slamming into her stomach and causing her to roll onto the ground coughing and hacking.

"No!" Mikoto cried out, pulling a coin from her pocket and aiming it at Indigo. With a blur of movement, Indigo was suddenly on top of Kuroko, hand around her neck.

"Ah, ah, ah!" He scolded Mikoto, "One wrong move and I snap her like the shrill annoying twig she is." With Kuroko only a couple inches past five foot and Indigo easily pushing six foot, four inches… Mikoto didn't doubt him. She clenched her jaw as she stared him down.

"M-Mikoto, I'm s-" Kuroko began to rasp out before a whining groan echoed through the air and Kuroko's mouth opened in a silent scream. Indigo lifted her by the neck off the ground just as a truly bizarre effect began. It was like multiple images of Kuroko were all overlaying on top of her, Indigo's arm having a similar effect. Kuroko's eyes rolled into the back of her head as whatever it was he was doing took its toll.

"Stop! What are you doing!?" Mikoto began to move forward before Indigo pointed up at Uiharu once more. Unwillingly, she chanced a glance in that direction and froze. The metal-masked figure the others had described, that Misaki had showed her pictures of. She held Uiharu in one hand by her bindings, having removed her from the flagpole, balancing at the very top of it. Without any apparent effort, the mysterious woman stepped off her perch and somehow landed completely unruffled not ten feet away from Mikoto, holding Uiharu in her grasp still.

Mikoto was stuck in place, despairing as Kuroko writhed in silent agony at whatever he was doing to her.

"Now then, little Mikoto-chan, we're going to play a game." He reached into his pocket and tossed a rectangular box to her, which Mikoto deftly caught out of reflex. Looking at it, it resembled a lighter, with a hinge to open the top. Flicking it open revealed a single red button.

"What-?" She looked up at him, and flinched at the raw unhinged glee on his face.

"That is the detonator to a bomb. Press the button, and you will kill my puppet there." He glanced over at the masked figure. "Her head goes 'pop', and you save your little friend." She gaped in horror, unable to even- "Hesitating, dear? That's fine too! If you don't do it, I'll just have her torture Uiharu-chan until you do." He smirked over at Mikoto again, seemingly reveling in her horrified expression.

"What, not enough?" He made a show of pretending to think. "Ah, I know! To sweeten the deal, I'll even let Kuroko-chan go. An irresistible bargain, no?"

Mikoto stared at him, shaking in rage. "W-why would… what the fuck is WRONG with you?"

"Always so quick to judge, Mikoto-chan." He shook his head as if she was an unruly child. "I can assure you, I'm quite flawless. But don't you think we have more pressing concerns?" He emphasized his point by slightly squeezing his hand around Kuroko's neck.

"Why…?" She hissed out, her expression a mixture of rage, hate, and fear. Why was he doing this? What… How could someone be this monstrous? How was it possible to be worse than… than him.

"Wrong question. _Why not?_ It gives you everything you want." His grin widened. "You kill one of your worst enemies, my little monster here, and save your friends. What is there to dislike?"

"How do I even know you're telling the truth?!" She reached her radar down to this detonator, but strangely found absolutely nothing, like there was a void in her hand where it should be.

"Ah, ah, ah!" Indigo waggled a finger of his free hand at her. "No cheating now. You only get to find out how honest I am when you press it." He bared his teeth in a caricature of a grin, revelling in her shock. How did he know?! "My game. My rules."

Mikoto stared at him with wide eyes, glancing down at the detonator. She felt revulsion at herself that she even for one moment considered it. That revulsion was suddenly buried under the sound of Kuroko's gagging screams of agony.

"What… Who are you?" She asked, not understanding who this monster was, why he would do all these atrocious things.

"Me? I'm Indig-" He began coyly.

"I can answer that."

The voice echoed over the speaker system of the athletic field, various loudspeakers screaming to life as they began to broadcast. Specifically, they began to broadcast the voice of Shokuhou Misaki.

"How did you…?!" Indigo looked up at the speakers, seeming visibly shocked to hear that voice. He quickly shook it off, regaining his smug composure. "So, Queen Misaki, you honestly think you kno-"

"Aihana Etsu."

Indigo froze.

"The First Esper, The Matrioshka Brain, The Oldest Student, The Graduate; Aihana Etsu, a man blessed with the rare and bizarre ability to control quantum states of matter and energy. One of the most complex powers ever recorded, one that turned its own wielder into a quantum supercomputer capable of hyper-realistic wide-range simulations so accurate that it could be called foresight... if mere foresight also allowed one to warp space itself to shift matter and energy into different states and conditions."

Mikoto listened as the speakers continued to spill this information, blinking, wondering where she had heard that name before.

"Aihana Etsu…" Misaki repeated. "The first fruit of the Power Curriculum: Academy City's Sixth Ranked Level Five." Mikoto felt her breath catch in her throat, her heart hammering more. This… was so much worse than she thought.

A pause hung in the air for what felt like an eternity, before Indigo finally reacted- by laughing.

"I can't believe someone finally figured it out without me having to tell them! I'm surrounded by inferior idiots so often I suppose I've grown used to their stupidity." He laughed more, a sound that had a truly vile ring to it.

"It's a shame someone I dared hope would be an ally turned out to be one of the most disgusting and insane creatures in existence, slave to the curse of his own power. And yet… I'm not surprised. It neatly explains why someone with such a potent ability would have even lower priority than my own. I guess your frothing psychopathic tendencies were just too much of a turn off to the scientists of Academy City." Misaki's voice continued to echo across the athletic field.

"I imagine Superintendent Crowley-" She resumed, only to be cut off by an angry looking Indigo- Or rather, Aihana Etsu.

"I couldn't care less what that ancient mummy thinks of me! He and his kind will one day fall back into the shroud of irrelevance where they belong." He scoffed, before smirking once more, ignoring the confusion that statement created in the girls.

"Now then… as cute as this distraction is, let us resume the evening's planned entertainment, shall we?" He grinned back at Mikoto, who felt her heart pounding in her chest as she was dragged back to the nightmare. She had been steadily inching toward Indigo, taking advantage of Misaki's distraction. To no avail, it seemed.

"I see you need a little motivation." He snapped his fingers. Motion drew Mikoto's eyes to the silver haired girl who began to move in response, setting Uiharu down on the ground before reaching behind her head. There was a loud click. The mask hissed, small amounts of air escaping valves across it. Splitting into four parts, the top two quarters slid along her scalp to rest just above her ears, while the bottom two quarters retreated down to her neck.

Mikoto felt like her heart stopped a few beats before resuming at a jackhammer pace, her breaths coming shallow and ragged as she tried to suppress her building panic. What she saw was an impossibility. A nightmare. Some kind of cosmic joke. But as much as she tried to deny it, there was a sort of dreadful certainty as sight of the girl's face brought her back to that night, the desperation and madness and horror she'd been suffering under so traumatically vivid in her memory as she stared into those eyes.

Those burning, crimson eyes.

"Acc… Acc…" Her voice caught on the first syllable.

"Yessss," he crooned with relish, "Accelerator." He reached over, petting the top of the girls head roughly, her expression blank, unchanged even as her head rocked side to side from his manhandling. "Surely you didn't think your little 'Sisters' were my only work?" His grin widened maliciously. "I made some slight adjustments, obviously. A female blends in much better when I'm not using her as my attack dog. Plus… girls are just more fun."

Mikoto felt bile rise in her throat at that last statement, the trembling she'd managed to curtail coming back for a different reason entirely. Her eyes fell onto that detonator once more. Some small part of her kept whispering… if she truly was a clone of Accelerator… was it really that bad to do? It might even… be a mercy.

She felt his eyes boring into her, waiting, enjoying her suffering like fine wine. All while Kuroko's strangled gasping reminded her she had a time limit, crushing her spirit even more.

"Come on… You know you want to. It's just a clone. A clone of Accelerator, even! And she's just as bad as he is, you know. Worse possibly, with how blindly obedient she is." He hissed quietly to her, tempting. "What is the harm-?"

"Don't listen to him, Mikoto!" Misaki's voice cracked over the speakers, interrupting Indigo's temptation. "He's just getting in your head, you're better than tha-"

"Enough from the peanut gallery." Indigo growled, all amusement falling off of him as he pointed a pair of fingers up at the commentators booth. Mikoto's eyes swung to where he pointed, her radar catching the unmistakably distinct interference pattern of Mental Out - Misaki -crouched down inside.

"Don't-!" Mikoto paused in shocked horror as a violet light appeared on his outstretched fingertips, followed by seven purple orbs of energy conjured forth behind him like a halo. That was impossible! How… How…

How did he have Meltdowner!?

He fired.

* * *

Misaki held no illusions that cowering in the thin-walled casting box of some run-down high school bleachers was safe. Even so, she was surprised when everything exploded around her, the cacophony of breaking glass and rending steel nearly deafening when one was right in there with it all. She wasn't too big to admit she screamed like... well, like a middle school girl getting exploded somehow. It was a confusing experience, the sort where you can state some of the things that happen, but their precise order and location are a jumble. What she could later recount for certain was the sense of flying through the air, nearly breaking her back on something that knocked the wind out of her, and laying crumpled on her side on the dirty concrete next to a bench.

Life was pain. She gasped for air, the double-whammy of the wind being knocked out of her and the smoke in the air making each attempt redefine her personal definition of agony. Splinters of glass and metal had opened lacerations all over her body that were starting to stain her clothes. Gingerly, she reached out and slowly pulled herself half up on the seat next to her so she could see. All thoughts of that being the _stupidest possible move_ failed to percolate in her state, tense with worry that she'd broken something and the pain just hadn't registered yet. The smoke was clearing. She blinked away tears and grime and finally recognized the source of her pain.

Indigo. Indigo was pointing. Pointing at her? Yes, he was definitely looking in her direction and... now she could see it. Saw it but didn't really comprehend it. Orbiting his form lazily were the eight stars of Meltdowner. How! That wasn't his power! How…

"Goodbye, Queen Misaki." He looked like he was shouting at her, but she only just caught it. "You won't be missed." Indigo smirked and then she was blinded by the flash of violet light.

She… She was going to die. Misaki reflexively snapped her eyes shut and curled in on herself, quaking violently as she waited for the end to come. For once, she felt as young and weak as she intellectually knew a soft teenage girl would normally be. And as tears welled around her eyes, as the weight of her impending doom finally caught up with her muddled consciousness... she broke.

"NO!" Her fear finally manifested in a terrified screech. She curled up even tighter on the filthy ground crying for how much she was leaving behind.

But nothing happened.

Cautiously, she pushed through the pain in her _everything_ to raise her head and open her eyes. Her vision swam with spots, but she couldn't help that her heart skipped a beat at the vision before her.

Standing proudly in front of her, face furious, but without a hint of effort, was Mikoto, holding up the hand that grasped the detonator, the beams of Meltdowner warping around her, creating a cage of death that surrounded both the Railgun and Mental Out. Almost contemptuously, she twitched her hand and the beams dissipated. Indigo, for the second time, was visibly surprised.

"When did you…" He muttered as he looked to where Mikoto had been standing just a moment ago.

"No."

Indigo looked back at her. "What-?"

Mikoto crushed the detonator in her hand into countless pieces, turning back to face him as she let the bits of electronic junk fall onto the concrete.

"No. I am not like you. I don't kill people just because it's convenient. Now let us go, or I might just reconsider it for YOU."

Misaki had never seen such an intense expression of rage and loathing spread across a person's face as Indigo listened to Mikoto's words. His frothing anger practically emanated from him in waves.

"FINE THEN! Your pathetic distraction has officially pissed me off! I hope you enjoy watching your friends die!" He hissed, pausing only as Misaki spoke, finally scraping together the shreds of her composure.

"I... wasn't distracting you… for Mikoto." She rasped, making a calculated gamble that his confusion would buy them the precious few seconds they needed….

"...What?" He blinked. She grinned. His eyes shot wide as he realized just a moment too late…

As Saten Ruiko broke from her stealthy approach into a dead sprint, closing the last several meters by leaping toward the arm that held Kuroko from his blind spot..

Indigo turned his head to look at her, and for a brief moment, Misaki saw him stiffen, a hint of fear in his posture.

"No, do-!" Ruiko couldn't stop if she tried and wouldn't stop if she could. Her grin was ferocious as she came down on his arm with a textbook hammer fist. Then things got weird. Ruiko's shout of triumph became a cry of pain as she was seemingly caught in the same effect Kuroko suffered from; multiple overlaid... illusions? It gave her the appearance of having phased out of this world until they all coalesced into a lone figure stumbling away. It wasn't a fruitless clash, though. Whatever the bizarre effect was, Indigo was not immune, and the feedback from what was apparently an application of his power caused him to drop to one knee.

"KILL THE QUEEN!" He shouted through his pain, and after a slight pause, the clone of Accelerator leaped from where she stood idle, abandoning Uiharu. Her mask snapped shut as she flew at Misaki with frightening speed.

Mikoto intercepted quickly, snapping off a sudden railgun shot into the ground to raise a crude smokescreen. She let out a breathy "oof" as something hard and unyielding wrapped around her waist and dragged her into the air. Apparently, Mikoto had scavenged one of the steel supports and was using it to electromagnetically lift her out of the fray even as she went to stall the puppeted clone of the Number One!

Misaki cursed. The clone was focused on killing her, so Mikoto couldn't effectively counterattack. Too busy protecting her.

She looked to where Ruiko, Kuroko, Uiharu, and Indigo were. Indigo was regaining his footing faster than the other three and his rictus of fury did not bode well for her fallen companions. He reached over hoisted Ruiko by the neck, and all Misaki could do was watch.

* * *

Move.

Move!

MOVE!

Kuroko screamed in her mind as she tried to command her body into action, but it did not obey. Instead the wracking waves of pain continued to wash over her. She could only stare up at Indigo and Ruiko from the ground where she twitched in her paralysis.

Everything had gone to hell so fast, her plan a complete failure. She had been captured so handily, it was almost nostalgic. Then, Indigo began to do whatever it was that he was doing and the unimaginable phantom pain-like sensation stole away her ability to think coherently about such quaint concepts. She had seen… things. Bits and snatches of fleeting images, memories forgotten and not, things that she'd imagined happening but didn't, things she yearned for, outcomes of all kinds that left her memory as soon as they appeared, leaving her only with the vaguest sense of a hole where something she'd never even had had been lost nevertheless. She heard part of what Misaki had said, but it didn't do any justice to the experience of him actively using quantum manipulation on her to traverse the explosion of her whole life's probability space.

All while she struggled to draw breath with his clammy hand clamped around her neck.

She didn't have time to dwell on it because things became even more chaotic with the addition of Ruiko. Her disruption had worked to a point. For a moment, there had been relief. Now her head throbbed from falling to the ground, she couldn't move her body, and now Ruiko was having the life strangled out of her.

Damn it, MOVE KUROKO!

"You make me sick." The visual fluctuations of his power pulsed with his growling. "I should have known that a rodent like you would pop up again. Didn't include you in my simulations… 'Who cares about pest control in the big picture?' I thought. I won't be making that mistake again. You'll be very easy to model once I TEAR OFF YOUR HEAD!" His voice crescendoed to a raspy roar as his grip visibly tightened, Ruiko gasping and hacking and scrabbling at his wrist as she desperately fought to breathe.

Kuroko could see in her periphery that Mikoto could not help. She was busy trying to keep both herself and Misaki alive under the jerky, unnatural assault of the silver-haired monstrosity.

Damn it, move! _Move!_ Turn your head! SOMETHING!

Finally, she began to feel her body respond and she turned her head. Her line of sight didn't change at all. Really?! Phantom sensations at a time like this!?

"You cannot even _begin_ to fathom how much you Level 0 rodents disgust me. And despite us tolerating your pitiful existence, you have the audacity to strike out against your betters?! I should make your death slow and painful for your hideous insolence!" She heard Indigo growl, followed by Ruiko letting out a choked cry of pain as he slammed her head into the ground with a brutal crack.

"At least this little bitch had the decency to misplace her powers." What? "A loss for science, yes, but vermin like you are _intrinsically_ worthless." His rant was interrupted by yet another joining the fray.

"LET HER GO!" She barely noticed Frenda cry out. "LET HER GO BEFORE I SHOOT YOUR UGLY FUCKING FACE OFF!"

Misplaced? He hadn't said her name, but he could only mean Kuroko, right? Which meant Indigo was very certain she had misplaced her powers. But... if she had… misplaced them? Then... Her attempts to move became less frantic as her brain furiously fixated on the puzzle of his word choice and what it meant.

Damn it, damn it! Why was she so helpless. Why couldn't the thought leave her alone until they weren't all about to die? Misplaced… Fuck! If he was a Level 5, he was going to rip them apart yet here she was, stuck on a brain teaser. She screamed at herself to just move her head, to move something, to MOVE!

 **MOVE!**

And then she did.


	33. Chapter 33 - The World, Upright

A/N: Took some time, but we got it done! Life and busy-ness and this chapter is quite long!

Editor's Note: Ruminations on the nature of spacetime delayed things more than I want to admit. Yes, really.

A/N: Also that!

* * *

Kuroko gazed into the void.

The chaotic melee she'd just been a part of was nowhere to be seen. She spun around, nothing but nothing for as far as she could see. Left, right, up, even beneath her feet.

Some instinct pricked at the back of her head and she dove forward into a roll and came up in an about face ready to fight... something she struggled to make sense of. It seemed like it acknowledged this in its own patronizing way as reality itself shifted? Shifted was the best term she could use, as her awareness of everything seemed to simply BECOME. She remembered it not being what she now saw, but also that it had always been what she now knew. Whatever it was.

There was definitely a robe. And a humanoid wearing the robe. Humanoid... but not human. The features were too perfect, too symmetrical, too off-puttingly alabaster white. Its hair hung straight down to its waist before stretching off into the formless infinity. And the eyes… the eyes were a solid off-gold, lightly glowing, sickly almost. The overall impression was something like a living statue engineered to be as beautifully between male and female as possible, except not even Pygmalion could ever hope to reach this level. In their hand, a burnt coin rested, which they were examining intently. Perhaps sensing her scrutiny, they looked up at Kuroko.

"Who… _what_ are you?"

It smiled at her question. As it opened its mouth, noise came out. High pitched, gibberish noise that made her brain scream in horrified confusion.

Her hands flew up to grab at her head, but she finally realized she didn't have any. Her prosthetic arms were gone. The metallic caps that served as their connectors, formerly as dark as night, were now shining brightly in a riot of colours that she knew with stark certainty were not part of the visible spectrum she'd known all her life. But despite not sensing her cybernetics, despite having almost no arms and no hands, she felt the space around her pulse and move and writhe, felt the yawning eternity that surrounded her shimmer and twist and pulse as it seemed to move with her "arms". AS her arms. She struggled through the pain, trying to make sense of the not-quite-physical sensations she was feeling when the maddening speech of... that thing... somehow coalesced into something she could comprehend long enough for her to catch the final few words.

"-ou welcome, little angel. Heaven, and I, will be watching… with great amusement."

In that moment, it was as if a great floodgate finally gave under the weight of all the world's oceans and her eyes were now open to see it.

* * *

Crowley jerked to attention as he felt a tremor shake through the room, his head turning to look at an empty spot in the midst of his Tarot cards. No… Not empty. Wasn't that where…?

And with a shattering pulse, cracks began to pour forth from an invisible center, fissures on the very air itself, before finally, it reappeared.

Lines of multicolor ties from other cards that had previously seemed attached to nothing, fading away into the air, snapped into focus in an instant. It was here...

The World was Upright, and the tyrant of Academy City laughed.

* * *

It felt like exactly what it was. A year and a half's worth of mounting psychic power suddenly being set free to run wild.

She had misplaced her powers. Misplaced her AIM field.

She had misplaced her arms.

Only now did she realize… They were one and the same.

"I will fucking see you all die scream-" No more of that. She found her heart racing with exhilaration once again, reveling in the joyous feeling of escaping Euclid's oppressive clutches to move freely, to disappear from one place and reappear in another with only a thought.

Also, the unparalleled satisfaction of drop kicking a criminal and/or monster in the back of the head.

Indigo let out a cry of pain and alarm as he stumbled away, dropping Ruiko who rolled away, coughing and hacking.

"W-what?" Indigo grunted as he turned to the empty space Kuroko had already vacated, then gasped and jerked his head to the side so her rapid jab from his blind spot only grazed his hair. She tsked clinically. Did monsters not get concussions?

"FUCK!" Indigo stumbled away, shimmering slightly. The feeling of it set her on edge and she dropped back to the ground out of caution. Whatever he was doing grated on her sense of... topology? Space? Something to muse over later; maybe Mikoto would have some advice or could at least point her to a "So You've Grown a New Sense" pamphlet?

She banished the thought. Not the time. The important thing was her intuitive understanding of every surface and angle of the real space around her. The shimmer, then, was some side effect of how he displaced his physical self from his own image. It was the same tactic he'd used in their first encounter, an effective parlor trick at the time, but she'd beaten it even then. As she was now?

"S-so, got your powers back I see-" Indigo jerked to the side as Kuroko suddenly appeared at the wall of the building he'd retreated to, her arm clipping into it where he'd been standing just a fraction of a second prior. The illusion of him snapped back from where he had appeared to be over to the wall where he actually was at the same time. She tsked again. She was calculating faster than ever, but lack of practice and the subtleties of the reference point… _sloppy_ , she chided herself..

Indigo stared down at the much smaller girl who was now elbow-deep in the wall. He began to nervously laugh, his grin widening.

"And so over-eager, you miscalculated and got yourself stu-" Kuroko whipped her arm to the side, tearing through the reinforced concrete with a short grunt. Another miss, but at least he got pelted with shrapnel.

He was visibly unnerved now, and staring at her... arm? Then the glint of polished metal drew her eye as well. Her glove was shredded, of course, but the arm itself was unscratched.

"My, my," she drawled as she held it up in front of her and slowly tested all the joints in her hand to verify there was no internal damage, "I think I'll definitely be leaving a nice review for Heaven Canceller when we're done here." She paused a beat for effect before returning her full attention to Indigo with a broad, self-satisfied smirk that only intensified with his growing expression of horror.

"It… It can't be… you've become…" He didn't get to finish the sentence before she disappeared and reappeared once more, a rapid teleportation behind him that left her too close for the take down she intended so she jammed a metal elbow into one of his kidneys, earning a howl of pain.

"Fucking… KILL HER!" Indigo bellowed, causing Kuroko to reflexively blink back several meters just in time for the Accelerator clone to slam her hand into the space Kuroko had just vacated.

The clone wheeled around on Kuroko, stalking heavily toward her with a palpable aura of death and destruction.

And Kuroko… was ready for it.

* * *

 _Kuroko was not ready for it!_

Clone or not, she was fast. Terrifyingly fast. Even with her now superhuman spatial awareness, Kuroko was having trouble keeping away from Indigo's mad doll. The fact that the space around the girl was somehow wrong helped her keep track when her eyes couldn't keep up. Was that the "shield" Mikoto had mentioned? What was it doi- "SHIT!"

Kuroko teleported once more as the clone dove at her with vicious intent. She couldn't let herself be touched even slightly by that power!

As she racked her brain for a counter, her luck ran out. Shifting just a hair too slow, Kuroko tried desperately for a last-ditch teleport… and gasped when the clone appeared halfway up the bleachers. _She missed? No, at the last moment, her hand was... deflected?_ It was then she felt them. Other spatial distortions swaying through the area that did not belong to the clone or Indigo. Long tendrils that twitched and floated. Wary of another actor on the field, she followed one with her mind even as she continued to evade the clone's attacks and found where it ended.

In her back. Just along her spinal column, with five neighbors; six in all. They… were her? Experimentally she willed one of the six to move, to slam down at the clone. And just as she imagined, one did. The ground cratered for a moment as the spatial anomaly struck it. The clone had managed to dodge it somehow. Then a massive groove appeared, the matter being teleported away. But… where did it go? She wasn't sure.

Unfortunately, that distracted her far too much. The clone dashed at her fast enough that a pop in the air was heard, the outstretched hand almost at Kuroko. On reflex, she raised up one of her hands defensively and both of their palms touched… almost.

She could see-but-not-see how the unsettling boundary of "wrongness" that she couldn't pin down the name of stopped at her hand, a classic irresistible force meeting an immovable Kuroko. Shockwaves began to emanate from the tiny golf ball-sized space between their palms. She felt it through her senses- though she hadn't been turned into a pretzel, that was more or less what the Accelerator-chan field was doing with the space in the medium between them. She had reflexively resisted it by correcting that space, but now she focused, trying desperately to teleport the clone. The odd field opposed her spatial changes, like two magnets trying to push against one another. Kuroko felt the nameless distortion swirling around the clone and pouring at her, trying to twist her arm with immense force. A vein in her forehead pounded as she responded in kind, willing the space itself to warp in the opposite direction, all the while shockwaves flew from their struggle, scoring deep rents in the ground and blasting away nearby debris.

What finally gave was their footing. Losing purchase on the crumbling earth beneath them threw the opposing forces out of alignment and the stalemate ended like a balloon with too much air. The tortured reality in the space between their hands "popped", sending Kuroko flying back and the clone into a state of dazed confusion as matter swirled around her like a twister.

Kuroko used a small teleport to reorient herself upright quickly, looking at her mechanical hand. Still in pristine condition. The coin… she'd teleported it away. Things were finally starting to make sense: anything that struck her arm was automatically teleported and THAT was why her arm was never damaged, why the first time they tried this the clone could not hurt her. She chanced a glance to the side where Indigo had been, and saw Mikoto had engaged him to prevent him from interfering. She needed to help, she couldn't waste time-

She quickly dodged another grab at her head by the clone.

"ENOUGH!" The discontinuity surrounding the clone was nearly impenetrable.

Nearly.

Swinging her arm, she struck the shield as she aimed at the girls masked face, feeling the spatial distortions appear once again, the air vibrating against the resisting forces. _There._ She teleported herself just a few centimeters forward, tweaking a variable in the calculation that she had once believed was a constant to bypass the barrier, compensating for the field's attempt at reversal in the same term.

And struck home.

With a crack, the mask shattered and the clone went flying, her revealed expression one of shocked pain as she slammed into the ground, crying out in agony, rolling several times. Moments later, Indigo landed next to his fallen thrall.

"DIE DAMN YOU!" he screamed, sending a violet beam of energy at Kuroko. If she was right…

Kuroko threw one hand up, palm forward, in the path of his imitation Meltdowner.

"KUROKO!" She heard Mikoto wail in despair. She'd need to apologize for this stunt later.

. Once he cut off the beam and his vision recovered, he could only stare in bewilderment. To all appearances, the stream of highly energetic particles dissipated harmlessly on the unblemished surface of her hand.

She pointed her palm at a seemingly empty location. "You dropped this." And with a flash, the very same beam of energy he'd shot erupted from her hand at the empty spot where his true body was hiding. Impressively, his true position snapped to where he was pretending to be nearly instantly, next to the clone, his expression one of shocked disbelief.

She was right. Her hand could teleport objects and phenomena somewhere for later use… if her guess was accurate, it was that… location… she'd seen the unknown figure that had rambled at her. It had held the coin… the coin that she was positive went missing when Mikoto shot it at her.

A beatific smile grew on her face as she began to approach Indigo. She didn't have to be afraid of him anymore.

"Get up! Get up you useless defective piece of junk!" he hissed at the downed clone, several more Meltdowner orbs appearing around him. His attention turned to the girls who had begun to congregate together. Misaki had moved to the unconscious Uiharu's side while Frenda had helped Ruiko onto her feet, one hand supporting her while another pointed a gun at Indigo.

"This can't be fucking happening!" He growled, pressing a hand against his prosthetic violet eye, fingers mixing with his dark hair.

"Give it up." Mikoto demanded, raising up another coin at him.

"You're finished. I'm dragging you to Anti-Skill myself." Kuroko added, scowling, her face the image of determination. Her need for oxygen betrayed her, heavy panting probably making it clear that she was winded and it was a struggle to act like she didn't have a mounting headache that was rapidly building to debilitating levels on top of that.

"Hah…" Indigo chuckled, grinning. "You think you've won? Please… This is hardly over- huh!?" His attention snapped to the clone at his feet.

"She can touch me."

A soft, fragile, female voice filled with wonder drew all eyes.

"She… She can touch me." The clone said again, having pushed herself up to her hands and knees. Tearfully, she slowly looked longingly up at Kuroko. "Kill me." she begged quietly. Kuroko didn't even have a chance to wrap her head around what was happening before a desperate albino girl was hurtling toward her then stopped by Indigo grabbing her by the back of the neck.

"PLEASE KILL ME!" she screamed hysterically, tears pouring down her face as she begged for death, her clear despair contrasting starkly with her previous deadpan expression.

Indigo muttered a curse, waving his free hand as more of Meltdowner's signature orbs appeared, firing off at once. Kuroko could feel him warping the space, the seven beams following the curvature and orienting at the same target.

Misaki and Uiharu.

She didn't hesitate, grabbing Mikoto and teleporting them both next to the targeted girls, Mikoto throwing a hand up and deflecting the beams on reflex.

"NOOO!" The explosion of dust and smoke from the blasts did nothing to conceal the despair-filled scream of the clone that cut off suddenly along with any sense of their opponents' presence.

As the smoke cleared, it revealed what she already knew: Indigo and the girl - _his lab grown victim_ \- were gone.

"Damn." Kuroko cursed, the bitterness of that loss tainting their victory.

* * *

Uiharu Kazari groaned as she came to, blinking the heavy sleepiness out of her eyes. The first thing she saw was the radiant and oh-so-very concerned face of Misaki.

"Misaki-" she was interrupted as the girl leaned down and kissed her on the lips, earning a squeak of surprise.

"I'm so happy you're OK." Misaki whispered as she parted lips, hugging the girl. Uiharu felt herself lying on the ground, head resting in Misaki's lap. What had she missed? She remembered finding out something…

"The Sixth!" She gasped loudly as memories began flooding back. "And, and Gunha!" She tried to sit up, but instead got herself pulled into another hug to Misaki's chest.

"It's over. He got driven off. All thanks to you. You focused enough that I could rebound a message to Ruiko through our palace. As for Gunha… I'm having Nokleben-san look in on him. Hopefully he's not..." She left that statement unfinished, instead turning her gaze up.

Uiharu blinked as she looked around, blushing fiercely as she felt Misaki's chest at the back of her head. She saw Mikoto and Kuroko, and off in the distance, Frenda and Saten. They were at… a school athletic field?

Mikoto hobbled over to Kuroko, hugging her tightly.

"You have your powers back!" Mikoto said in a tone that could only be described as overwhelming relief. "Oh god, I thought I'd taken it away from you forever…" Mikoto was audibly choking back tears. Kuroko squeezed her tightly, burying her face into Mikoto's chest.

"It's fine… I realized something when he said the word misplaced… I had misplaced my powers. My arms as well. They're the same… my arms became part of my AIM field. I think." Kuroko sounded quite confident at the start of her explanation, but that began to trail off toward the end.

"...Maybe I should talk to the doctor about this." She finally conceded. The other girls giggled slightly; everything was going to be fine.

"IT DOESN'T FUCKING MATTER ANYMORE!"

The girls collectively jumped and turned to the source of the yell, spotting Frenda visibly furious, and Ruiko next to her looking anxious and scared. Kazari had tuned out the quiet whispers before, but now everyone could hear them perfectly.

"I don't have ANY agency left in my life, I just want to go back to my blind hedonism and money when things didn't fucking matter!" Frenda screamed at Saten, who was visibly trying to calm her down.

"I don't matter anymore, I'm nothing but a fucking pawn for these stupid fucking demigods! All fucking seven of them! First it was Accelerator and Railgun a year and a half ago. Now I'm fucking dealing with the Sixth that no one even knew anything about?! I'm at the beck and call of that fucking terror over there," she pointed at Misaki, "and her thug, the Seventh?! And then Mugino's gone completely-" she cut off in a sob, tears streaming down her face.

"I'm fucking done, nothing I do matters anymore, I don't fucking care!" she screamed.

"I CARE!" Ruiko came back instantly. "You matter to me!" she shouted, taking a step forward toward Frenda.

"I know! And that's why it all bothers me!" she jabbed her finger at Ruiko as she said this and froze. Her expression crumbled. "It's all YOUR FAULT! Before I met you, none of this bothered me, but now… now I care, now I give a shit!" Her voice cracked as she turned away to hide her obvious rage and despair. "Fuck you! Just, fuck you!"

Frenda didn't look back as she stormed off and Ruiko just stared at her back.

* * *

Ruiko watched as Frenda stormed away. Absently, she noted the others approaching her. They were saying something, but she didn't hear it over the beating of her heart in her ears.

Frenda's words hurt, sure, but that wasn't what stilled her with cold fear. It was what she saw when she touched Indigo.

First it was like grasping a lightning bolt, then there were lights and vibrations and sensations she couldn't name, and then suddenly...

* * *

Ruiko prowled carefully through the steam tunnels of the industrial lab complex above ground. Looking behind her, she saw a stairway leading up to a door- she had clearly come from this direction.

"Please… Please Mugino…"

Her head whipped back forward as she heard the voice of Frenda. Frenda was in trouble. _Frenda needed her._ She broke into a dead sprint, vision tunneled as she rushed for the girl she...

A brief flash of light and crackle of energy interrupted her run for a moment. It had come around… from her left. She turned and ran down it, dashing for what felt like forever.

She slowed to a stop as she approached a foul smell. Burning meat.

Dread filled her and her steps became leaden. She saw a pair of feet sticking out from behind a piece of machinery. Turning the corner around it, she saw it…and fell to her knees as the horror and devastation rolled over her like a tsunami.

There was Frenda, leaned up against the wall. From across her waist, something had burned straight through her, severing her torso from the rest of her. Her face was frozen in a rictus of hopelessness and pure agony… glassy eyes staring into the distance with her death. Tears stained her face, her head hanging forward. Clutched in her hand was a blood covered phone. Almost against her conscious will, Ruiko crawled forward to reach out to… she grabbed the device and began to shake violently as she looked at it, the pain in her heart blending with her rage at the unfairness of this situation. Parts of the screen were obscured by the blood, but she could see enough.

To: Saten; Fremea

Im sorry I lov

It was never sent, Frenda's body having given out before she could finish it.

Trembling, Ruiko reached out to gently close Frenda's eyes, then rose slowly and turned away. Her jaw was clenched and her eyes shut tight. Her knuckles were white and her fists shook at her side. A beastial roar echoed through the tunnels as the scene fell apart around her into an endless void that consumed her as well.

* * *

She had woken up, or rather regained awareness, with Frenda pulling her off the ground and aiming a gun at Indigo. She could hardly believe her eyes, it had been so… so real and she wanted nothing more than to hug that girl at that moment.

Even now, as she reflected on the memory, it haunted her.

She covered her mouth as she held down her gorge at the vivid image burned in her mind of the mutilated body and agonized expression of Frenda.

A hand landed on her shoulder, prompting her to look over at Mikoto who was giving her the most concerned of looks. She was probably a pretty pitiful sight right now. Heartbroken even. But it didn't matter… Only one thing mattered.

Only one thing.


	34. End Act II - Interlude - Begin Act III

Rym stared out across the devastated battlefield of the abandoned school from his high perch on a distant building. It had been an interesting show, to say the least, and even had some relationship drama thrown in as a bonus.

He'd learned so much today from watching those girls squabble with the so-called Number Six. Not the least of which was the magnitude of growing power that Mikoto struggled so valiantly to restrain… a troublesome prospect.

And that Kuroko girl… that kind of teleportation… of _spatial manipulation_ …

"Oh, things are about to get LOUD here… I can just about _feel_ it!" The blonde grinned widely, cracking his neck as if preparing himself for the inevitable battle that he might get dragged into. He turned to look up at the Windowless Building in the distance, his smirk widening with teeth bared.

"Awww, poor dumb Crowley…" The mournful shake of his head was belied by the vicious humour in his tone. "Do you really think they'll just sit idly under your thumb?"

End Act II

* * *

The clack of footsteps echoed down the hall as Kakine Teitoku made his way to the meeting point. Kicking open a metal door and strolling inside with supreme confidence, he looked around. A mostly empty room- just a single table with a tablet on it. And on the opposite side... a has-been mongrel.

"Well hello there, Indigo-san." He probably _could_ have helped the smirk that revealed his contempt for this individual but, honestly, why bother? The man in front of him was clearly injured and beaten. He hadn't earned that. "Had a rough day?"

"About as rough as you," Indigo said, tapping the side of his face where Teitoku's burns were still healing. The ones inflicted on him by Meltdowner and Railgun.

His mirth dried up rather quickly.

"What do you want?" he demanded of his counterpart, already wanting to leave.

"Come, now, is that really how you talk to someone who's helped you so much? Why, if not for me, you wouldn't have had any warning at all for all those nasty ITEM raids… I even took care of that little freak for you. What was her name? Yamiyo? Yomiya?" Teitoku was quickly becoming fed up with his unctuous bullshit but he still noticed when an odd look appeared in the squinted eye of Indigo. Was it… doubt?

"Stuff it. I didn't ask for that, and yes, we are SO appreciative of your _generous_ drip-feed of information which I'm _sure_ was given out of the kindness of your ink-black heart and not because you have something you hope to gain from it." He couldn't even pretend to say that with a straight face so he didn't bother. To his left, invisible to Indigo under a cloak of Dark Matter, he could see his minion, a psychokinetic that he had brought along just in case, getting uncomfortable.

Smart minion; he knew things never ended well when his boss got angry.

"What. Do. You. Want?" he ground out again, earning another smirk from Indigo.

"To give you this…" Indigo leaned forward and tapped the tablet, bringing to life an image. Teitoku's eyes widened as he saw the gauntlet-like device with two long appendages made of metal that extended from the index and middle finger displayed.

"The Tweezers…" he breathed.

"Yes, the nanoparticle manipulator you've been so desperate to get your hands on. I have it. I have it and I might be inclined to give it to you… a good in exchange for a little _service_..." Indigo grinned with all the innocence of a loan shark grifting small children.

Teitoku gave him an appraising look. Indigo didn't waver. He was confident, which meant that Teitoku would likely lose the Tweezers to some insurance plan to destroy them if he tried to torture the information out of the smug asshole.

"And what might that be?" He asked cooly, doing his best to keep his posture calm.

"I need you to get me these two… and do a bit of theater with the older one. I need you to make it hurt." Indigo offered him a pair of photographs, causing Teitoku to raise an eyebrow as he took them.

A smirk grew across Dark Matter's face.

"I think I can do that."

* * *

As Dark Matter left, Indigo stood alone in the room, his satisfaction cracking as he furrowed his brow and looked down.

"I _did_ kill that Yamiyo girl…" He muttered to himself, putting a hand to his mouth as he tried to sort through his memories.

"...didn't I?"

* * *

They'd stumbled their way back to the house... and Misaki finally saw, from the safe distance of a fire cordon, the damage it had incurred when she and Kazari were attempting to flee. Her body hurt. Her head ached. Her hair probably looked terrible, too. And their bed was almost certainly a write-off. Far too tired to deal with _everything_ , she pulled her phone out, glared at it for failing to survive the shocking experiences she'd endured, and pocketed it with a sigh. Of course. And she didn't have any remotes on hand, so getting another would be a… her eyes alighted on the KuroMiko pair as they leaned on each other and inspiration struck. Linking arms with Kazari, she sauntered up behind her target and casually jammed her hand into Mikoto's pocket.

"What the-"

"I'm borrowing this." Yes, trust the living dynamo to be the only one with a phone still intact. She waved the device in Mikoto's peripheral vision

"-hey? Okay? You could have asked, you know!" she growled, but Misaki could tell her heart wasn't really in it.

So that didn't piss her off for real.

Huh.

She flipped the device open, admired the wallpaper of Kuroko drooling in her sleep, and… right. It was locked. She fumbled fruitlessly with it for a minute then pouted and dropped it in Kazari's patiently waiting hand. There was only time for one or two throbs of her worsening headache before it was given back? How?

"She made the password Kuroko's birthday," a tiny flower whispered in her ear. "Pretty cute of her, huh?"

It was.

It really, really was.

Any other day, she would have played with the information, or at least giggled a bit.

Today, though?

"Nokleben. ... Yes. I presume you're aware of the state of my home? ... Indeed. … ... Excellent, I knew there was a reason I kept you around. Please hurry. … And Nokleben? … _Thank you_." She locked the phone again and earned an annoyed grunt when she put it back in Mikoto's pocket with a short thanks. "I have a car on the way in eight minutes," she announced. "Just a little longer and we can start to recover from this day."

* * *

After several hours of picking through wreckage, the most striking thing, Ruiko decided, was how quickly she came to think of Misaki's Recovery House for Wayward Superpowered Lesbian Disasters as simply "home". In hindsight, yeah, it's where all her stuff was, but she'd spent so long distracted by…

Looking around like she would be caught and feeling like a bit of a creep despite herself, she stuffed a drawer full of Frenda's more _eye-catching_ underwear into one of several duffel bags of non-ruined possessions. She zipped it up quickly only for the blood stain to remind her of the time they escaped the murderbot factory from right under Indigo's nose.

... distracted by other things.

A day really wasn't enough time to recover, especially since Misaki could only stall the barrage of questions from Anti-Skill, who were investigating the attack, for so long. _I'll have to do something nice for her later_. She definitely wouldn't have been able to keep her composure and stick to the story without a bit of help from Mental Out.

"I'm heading to the hospital," Misaki announced once they'd reconvened in the less-damaged parlor for lunch.. "I want to check in on Gunha and Maika." Suddenly, the mediocre convenience store lunch wasn't tasting so good. "It sounds like Maika was only kept for observation. She was a little banged up after she was thrown into a wall by Etsu. But Gunha... is still in critical condition," Misaki continued sombrely. "I… I need to apologise to him. In case he…" She trailed off and Uiharu gathered her tense form into a hug.

Ruiko gave up on pretending to eat and stewed in the awkward quiet. Eventually, Misaki regained herself enough to leave.

"Th-thanks…" Mikoto called softly at her back, causing Misaki to straighten in shock of some sort? She couldn't place the expression and the angle was bad anyway. She wasn't good at reading faces, but she appreciated that they were apparently finally working out their issues.

"...Sure. My pleasure." Misaki said stiffly, off balance before she continued her path out, sparing just a moment to kiss Uiharu at the door and gently disengage from the smaller girl.

"Uiharu?" She called out once they were alone.

Uiharu looked like hell too.

"Yes?" Somehow, she still mustered a bright smile after all that. It was nice to see Uiharu doing OK after… everything.

"I... have a favor to ask." Uiharu's expression flattened at the intensity in her voice and nodded for her to continue. "I need information. Protected information, but..." That earned her a raised eyebrow.

"I'm listening."

"...I need you to look up someone in the Bank for me."

Begin Act III


End file.
